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CONTENTS
Preface Chapter 1: The Environment of the Patio Why bother growing on a patio? The basics of growing in pots and containers Water. roots and shoots What pots and containers you will need for growing produce on a patio The best way to grow patio plants Finding novel places to plant crops It’s a what? Just how much can you grow? Chapter 2: Planning for Crops All the Year Round What tools do I need? Trays and propagators Providing a constant environment for seeds Planning crops Growing fruit Chapter 3: Plants Grow Differently in Pots What do plants need? Types of compost Support Flavour Skin Companion planting Chapter 4: The Patio Gardener’s Year In the winter In the spring
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ix 1 2 3 3 4 6 9 11 12 14 14 17 18 19 24 27 28 32 33 34 35 35 39 39 41
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have a ﬂavour no gourmet. We have a balcony thrusting into the sky from a city centre ﬂat. bags and grow bags can be the best food ever. on a terraced house of the tiniest patio area there is. no chef. A recent survey suggested that ﬁve million people wanted to ‘live the good life’ and keep chickens. Patio Produce aims to show the reader in simple practical terms just how much is possible in the smallest space. and in this book we make the point that using chemicals on the patio might bring problems not thought of compared to wider use in the garden and on a farm. where our produce is ﬂown in from the far corners of the earth. you can grow at least some of your own food. cooked and consumed within minutes of them being in the ground and growing. regardless of what space you have. More than any of these reasons for growing your own. Secondly. no way of life is healthier for anyone than to get compost under your ﬁngernails
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. The food you grow in pots. no restaurant can beat. But many of us believe the idea of getting anywhere near self sufﬁcient can only be a distant dream because we live in the city. I remain convinced that potatoes taken from their compost. If you have access to sunlight. That has to have an environmental payoff. containers. fresh food.PREFACE
There is a huge interest in growing vegetables and food. you can grow without chemicals. you are helping to save the planet. You can be completely sure the food you grow is healthy. Even in a small way the journey from your patio or balcony or the path to your door to your plate is metres and not hundreds of kilometres. growing your own has some amazing consequences. a ‘back yard’ as we say in the north. This belief is erroneous. and in this world of globalisation. Firstly. grow some of their own food and somehow achieve a level of self sufﬁciency.

watered by accident and generally dirtied by grubby ﬁngers. Paul Peacock
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and see green things growing. Don’t sit frustrated at the space you have. tried out. don’t give up before you even start. This book is meant to be handled. Get out there and grow something. I have grown all of the plants and produce over the years in the tiniest of situations and I can say they really do work – even in the north of England where I live. It is a book to be dipped into when you need information and read whole when you need a little inspiration.

CHAPTER 1
THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE PATIO
This book is aimed at the majority of us who live in terraced houses. town houses and semi-detached properties with little more than a postage stamp for a garden and often nowhere to grow but the patio. room for tonnes of produce. the whole idea of growing vegetables seemed dead in the water. A real movement of people who grow their own food is building in popularity and I longed to be one of them. Television programmes that exhorted me to get out there and ‘Dig for Victory’ simply got on my nerves. when I tried to ﬁnd a ‘friendlier’ allotment I found there were
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. high rise ﬂats. chickens and pigs. It was too far away for a start. tell me how easy it was to live off the land. there were too many regulations. by the time I got there it was time to come home. It seems the great buzz words of the last few years are ‘Grow your Own’. There was always someone coming along with something negative to say (I have since found out that the politics of the allotment can sometimes be difﬁcult to cope with). I tried an allotment but it had insurmountable problems for me. But with no land at all and even less free time. Finally. I became increasingly frustrated watching TV gardeners with acres of space. Secondly.

There are many reasons why you should consider patio gardening techniques in your garden if it is less than around 10m2. the growing conditions and its ability to sustain plant life obviously depends on the geographical setting. but they all have some properties in common. But even if you care little for the politics of food. One thing that all the pundits seem to be agreed on is that sooner or later we will have to grow more of our own food at home. it is simply a few paving slabs dropped by the French windows. cooked and eaten within minutes. So. and for some it is a balcony many metres in the air. like those in a modern town house. and by growing in containers you will have a greater versatility. why should we bother growing our own vegetables on a patio when there isn’t that much space there in the ﬁrst place? We have all been urged to look inside our shopping baskets to ﬁnd out where our food comes from. Once you have tasted potatoes plucked from your own garden. For some. probably a better yield. The economics of shipping tomatoes from Kenya and potatoes from Brazil will eventually give way to a more home grown. you will no doubt have all the motivation needed for growing more and more food at home. In such a small garden there is not really enough space to set aside land for crops. the ability to move crops around. even if there is only a postage stamp’s space to grow it in. carried to your kitchen.P ATIO P RODUCE
no plots available. how many food miles they have travelled and what are the rights and wrongs of the stuff we eat. local system of growing and distributing food. likes their grub. The common patio takes many shapes and is made from all sorts of material.
WHY BOTHER GROWING ON A PATIO?
So. The environment of the patio. the very idea of having fresh produce at your back door must excite anyone who. For others it is a raised area of decking. ﬁnally I cut my losses and decided to concentrate on turning my little postage stamp of a patio into a productive foodproducing machine. nothing but waiting lists.
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. and by harvest. what chemicals are in them. like me.

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THE BASICS OF GROWING IN POTS AND CONTAINERS
There is no end to the ways you can grow on a patio, and no end to the crops you can grow. Of course, the very word patio implies that you will actually be growing in pots and containers of all kinds. Containers should provide all the requirements for a plant to grow well, if only for a few days at a time and with the added bonus of being able to move them around to suit your needs. As a plant grows too large for a space you can move it elsewhere, or you can rotate your pots so that the plants might get their turn of good sunlight.

WATER, ROOTS AND SHOOTS
Roots, the parts of plants we normally don’t see, need to be kept healthy. Healthy roots do not always make for healthy shoots, but the opposite is always the case. Containers need to be the correct size for the plant so that the roots can grow without being conﬁned. The compost they grow in needs to provide water and oxygen as well as an ample supply of nutrients and support so the plant doesn’t fall out of the pot in the breeze. Sometimes in growing on the patio it is necessary to help the roots by providing extra support. Plants are very selective about where they grow. Too much water and you will ﬁnd most roots begin to rot, not enough and you will ﬁnd the plant drying up. The ﬁrst tip for growing on the patio is water little and often, rather than copiously and infrequently. When a plant becomes waterlogged the problem is the lack of oxygen. The plant can get what it needs from water but when this is used up, the oxygen dissolved in the water is also used up and isn’t replaced. What you are looking to provide is a balance between a ﬁlm of water to coat the root hairs and a good air space for oxygen to pass through the water and into the plant.

Soil drainage
Do all you can to maintain the drainage of the pot. Make your own compost or growing medium by mixing with sand; normally I ﬁnd 30% sand and 70% compost is ideal and
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put a few pebbles or broken crockery in the bottom of the pot. The sand is there to improve the drainage and the compost to act as a sponge to hold water. Sometimes you will want to grow in material that resembles neither soil nor compost. Carrots, for example, grow well in sand with a little vermiculite thrown in, then fed inorganically with liquid feed.

Sharing water
On the whole, the patio does not get the same beneﬁt from rainfall as the full-sized garden. Water not collected in the pots that lie about the patio is lost to the plants because it simply runs away. In the garden, soil acts as a huge sponge distributing moisture evenly to all the plants, but the roots of the pot-grown plant cannot share in the next pot’s water. Consequently, patio crops are thirsty even when it rains, and you should implement a regime of watering for most days. Experience will show which plants need watering most, but take it as a golden rule that they need more than those in the ordinary garden. Because you have to water pots and containers more frequently than the ordinary garden, the nutrients in the soil tend to wash out with any excess. The systems that circulate nutrients in the soil cannot work inside a pot, so they need feeding more frequently to make up that which is lost. Use slow release fertiliser where you need it most (they are more expensive and should be used only with hungry plants) and have a ready supply of compost for topping up. If you can manage to water with a weak solution of fertiliser, all the better.

WHAT POTS AND CONTAINERS YOU WILL NEED FOR GROWING PRODUCE ON A PATIO
You will need a range of pots from tiny modules no bigger than your thumb for sowing seeds, to 40cm pots or larger for small trees. I have always found it important to have a range of pot types, clay, plastic and more modern materials like polystyrene. I also make a lot of pots out of paper for seedlings and burying into containers.
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If you are putting pots on the ﬂoor of the patio then always position them on pot stands where possible, and if you cannot, raise them on a stone or a piece of wood, anything to raise them off the ground. This will avoid the pot freezing to the ground on the coldest days and it is much easier to deal with pests like slugs and snails – but more of this later.

Grow bags
Conventional pots are not the only way of growing on the patio. You can buy and make all manner of receptacles for plants. Grow bags are excellent for a number of reasons as long as you remember to put drainage holes in them. Grow bag quality is directly proportional to their cost. I buy cheap ones which I lay alongside paths and in these I grow salad crops. Because I steal most of my ‘land’ from the path, they take up very little room and thankfully, the days when we have to push a child’s buggy along the path are long gone. Laid ﬂat grow bags can produce lettuce, beets, spring onions, cucumbers, radish and baby carrots all along my path. However, you can put the grow bag on its end and open the top to grow a variety of crops. Carrots grown in this way are superb. They are long and thick and fantastically tasty – but there are other ways to grow big carrots on the patio explained later in the book. You can grow potatoes this way too, if you are desperate, but there are hundreds of ways of growing potatoes.

Fig. 1. Carrot growbag

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hanging basket style. Larger bags. You can hang them up by their handles and use them as an impromptu hanging basket. cauliﬂowers and sprouts. They are also good at lining larger planters. To be honest I thought the bag smelled of potatoes before I started planting. or you can fashion them into a large container itself to grow crops directly. They simply don’t stand up to the abuse of muddy rugby boots for two training sessions. make fantastic stand-alone planters. a match on Saturday and refereeing on Sunday.
THE BEST WAY TO GROW PATIO PLANTS
By copying nature and growing in clusters. This kind of structure makes for excellent potato growing bags. This type of bag can also be painted in acrylic or emulsion to brighten up or tone in the bag to the surroundings. which while we are on the subject can be made from any old wood – I ﬁnd a ready supply of wooden pallets to be really helpful.
Sports bags
Every rugby season. those you get with stones or sand delivered from a builder’s merchants.P ATIO P RODUCE
Plastic bags
The ordinary. particularly for potatoes and you can get half a ton of potatoes in one of those bags. very strong container that will hold big pots. I go through about three sports bags. the success of your patio produce will be improved no end. but also for cabbages. or you can run a rope or washing line through the handles and line them up in mid air. The old bags make great containers for growing potatoes. By tearing them into strips and knotting. One thing led to another and I tried growing spuds in the bag with great success. I ﬁnd this to be almost the ideal way of growing turnips. you can crochet supermarket bags together to make a large. they’re black. they’re rugged and they leak. maligned plastic bag from the supermarket is very versatile on the patio. If you line up your plants in pots and containers you will get good
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. Their size makes it possible to grow carrots while at the same time affording sufﬁcient protection from carrot root ﬂy.

A raindrop missing one plant is more likely to water another. The downside to this is that the property can shelter the patio from the sun. You might be able to move your patio to a sunnier spot. You can improve the possibilities of insect pollination by growing together plants bees might be interested in. you can’t move your house. you will ﬁnd they grow to a similar height than those in pots a few feet lower. patios are warmer places than the open ﬁeld. This heat is released in the evening to keep the patio area a degree or two warmer and also reduces the length of time plants are exposed to the coldest temperatures. If your garden is long. This almost magical phenomenon is caused by the characteristics of the light in your garden. depending on their surroundings. This makes it much easier to protect a discrete number of plants from the ravages of slugs. Secondly. For a start. You can improve a tranquil Sunday summertime siesta by putting together aromatic plants that make the air healthily refreshing. birds and whatever else wants to nibble away at your food. but you can enhance the growing space and the enjoyment of your garden by growing in clusters.T HE E NVIRONMENT
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growth. Sunshine falling on the brickwork. causes the building to warm up even in the coldest winters. So if you have cabbages raised off the ground. Plants like to grow to certain heights. There is a number of elements to this.
Take advantage of the shelter patios afford
Generally speaking. as well as the patio ﬂoor. if you place a number of pots and planters together in a huddle you can maximise the effect of rain. if this
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. your building itself can afford some shelter from driving wind and rain. but you can do something to mitigate the problem. There is frequently nothing to be done about this.
Getting to know your plants
The thing about patio growing is that you notice your plants more and pick out their peculiarities. the patio might be best afforded at the end. A row of cabbages in the ground never show this effect. You can entice plants to grow more naturally by copying how they might be found in nature. and plonking your deckchair in the middle of them. Firstly. plants grown against or near walls often do better than those in the ﬁeld or garden.

A single tea light inside a hollow concrete breeze block. Cover your plants with ﬂeece or. Lifting them from the ground is a good idea because cold air is heavier than warm and you can save a plant by simply putting it on a shelf. but are less insulating than clay ones.
The Big Chill
That said. use a wall. move them to a warmer spot. but so are newspapers and old woollies. placed inside is enough for those really cold nights. and in the winter you will need to protect them. be it a fence or the side of your house to grow on by using a series of hanging baskets and planters. but a plant pot has roots in it only a few centimetres from the freezing air. Plastic pots are more able to withstand this kind of tension. Clay pots tend to crack in the winter if there is a lot of moist compost inside it. Ice expands when it freezes. Fix them to the house wall (because they are otherwise apt to blow away) and not only do they take up little space. plants in pots suffer from the cold more than soil-borne ones. For very little money you can buy small plastic greenhouses that look more like wardrobes. It takes a lot to freeze the soil down to a depth of 30cm. Bubble wrap is excellent for this. then putting this into a larger clay pot ﬁlled with stones or plastic packing to take up the space.P ATIO P RODUCE
part gets the most sun. cracking the pot. If you ﬁnd how your shadow falls it may be possible to raise them a little to bring them into the sunlight for longer. Try planting in plastic.
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. better still. There are no rules to say the patio must be next to the house.
Plastic fantastic
Another boon for the patio is the use of plastic. Fill a wheelbarrow (if you have space for one) or modify a shopping trolley to hold delicate plants so you can move them inside or into a warm spot for the night more easily and then drag them back into the light during the day. Another solution to this problem is to raise your plants off the ground.
Choosing your pots
The choice of pot is important. You can make a vertical patio ie. the house should keep them frost-free for most of the year.

Similarly. slightly closing off the neck when the vine has come out of the top of the bag. the tops of walls and fences make for good growing places as long as they are safe to use. which can be cut to size and then split into two length-ways. Similarly. If you drill and plug good quality coat hangers on the wall you can use them to site shopping bags that carry any amount of crops. multi slotted and designed for hanging in wardrobes. also hang easily against the wall. A large tub with a vine trained along the car port makes a wonderful feature as well as several gallons of wine. garlic in pots and radish. break open the pipe again to reveal the most perfect crop ever. especially if you ﬁt a plastic roof. such as salad crops. You can buy or make a wide range of plant holders that hang off the wall and in which you can grow food. For example.
Drainpipes
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FINDING NOVEL PLACES TO PLANT CROPS
Walls are there for more than hanging baskets. watering with fertiliser solution. It works better if you put a black plastic bag over the shopping bag to stop the young potatoes from greening. We have already mentioned the idea of lining paths with grow bags. Tape the two halves back together (for ease of opening later) and block off the gap at the bottom. or a good neighbour. I have used them to grow strawberries as well as all manner of herbs. car ports are excellent places for growing crops. when they’re ready. and steps are a good place to place pots if it can be done safely. You only get a small crop. parsnips. but keep it lightweight. herbs of all kinds. and turnips. perhaps only enough for a single meal. Old plastic shoe racks. you can place this on a hook. For root crops you can. You can dangle bags on either side of a fence for growing on the top if you have access to either side. You can get carried away designing places to hang bags of growing potatoes – and you need only 180 of them for a year’s supply – implausible but tempting!
Up on the roof
Roofs are excellent places to grow. strawberries – almost anything. Fill with compost and grow carrots down the tube. if you half ﬁll a carrier bag with compost and grow a potato tuber in it.
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or salad container. Old milk bottles – you can hardly call those plastic containers ‘milk bottles’ but they make excellent carrot growing containers. Or why not try cutting the polystyrene packaging you get around televisions and white goods into receptacle shapes. 2.P ATIO P RODUCE
Fig. You can buy jointing bends which slot into each other and therefore make a tree in which will grow all kinds of crops. You can use children’s swimming pools and cleaned-out tin cans. trays and dishes. recycle . Drainpipe herbs
Soil pipes
The thing about soil pipes is they are interconnecting. re-use. Fill the bottle with compost by three quarters
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. It will ﬁll with a huge amount of compost making it capable of growing some quite impressive crops. plastic bottles. This type of container will ﬁx to a wall very easily and make a back door herb garden. . There is no end to the ways you can put them together.
You can re-use old lampshades by lining them with a plastic bag. mugs and cups (with drainage holes drilled in the bottom). an interesting strawberry container. . ﬁlling them with compost and hanging them like baskets around the garden.
Use.

that is they adopt one shape in the garden and a completely different shape in a pot. the cabbages you get in a pot still have a lot of cabbage leaf on them. is good for growing herbs and if you keep the drainer you have a surface for pots too. round-hearted cabbage is turned into a 2m tall. insulated and dark when you close the door.
Everything including the kitchen sink
It might be amusing but many household items are good for growing. especially if you have a piece of clear plastic to cover it. because they are easy to clean. A recognisable. After a while the plant grows through the hole in the top. it will grow quite happily. and you have a carrot plant. The kitchen sink. though less marked in other crops than with cabbages. You can do the same with many other root crops.
IT’S A WHAT?
In some circumstances. The bottle itself acts as a little greenhouse. Toilets and potties are traditionally used with a wry smile in the garden. the seeds grow up and eventually you can reject the poorest growing. as well as making a great pond. especially when you are growing cabbages and their related crops in pots. Cabbages show what botanists call polymorphism. Try to get some plants growing out of the taps! It’s harder than you think. Saying that. Refrigerators have excellent uses in the garden. what you end up with bears no visible relationship to what you would buy in the shop.T HE E NVIRONMENT
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and drop a couple of seeds into the bottle and water it. long leaved plant. This phenomenon is quite common. but not achieve the same
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. They can also be used to grow mushrooms inside. They might not look like cabbage leaves. or try starting off larger crops before transferring into a larger pot. but ensure you give them a thorough cleaning before you grow crops in them. but they certainly taste like them. I think they are better for growing ﬂowers. Still. You can remove the door and use the space as a cold frame. If you plant an onion set into a piece of compost-ﬁlled drainpipe.

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size as its soil-grown sibling. pride is the best seasoning of all. The thought of scratching a neighbour’s car because the wind has blown the cover and/or the box itself down the street. depends on how much space you have. It is possible to obtain a week’s worth of crops from a window box and as much as a month’s supply from them around the whole house. but you can be well on the way. It is possible to ﬁx cloches to window boxes as long as you are sure it is secure. How lovely to have a row of salad onions to brighten up your summer salads! Even better to have a year’s supply of lettuces. and if all the space you have is a landing on the north face of a high rise block of ﬂats. is enough to keep me awake all night. against walls. You might not be self sufﬁcient. keeping them warm and protecting them from the wind. A cloche is a transparent covering for growing plants. You can get a continual supply of cut-and-come-again herbs and salad crops. And in all vegetable growing. or turnips that were growing one minute. you can still take great pride in the meagre crop you can grow there. you can afﬁx boxes directly to walls for the same effect. But it’s still an onion. More than mere window boxes. This way I can leave the wall free and rotate the boxes or stack them as I require. on shed roofs and so on. The point of patio growing is improving your life. best of all. We have already seen some ways for getting more crops in and I am sure you can use your imagination to ﬁnd even more.
Window boxes
You can increase your growing area considerably by making use of securely ﬁxed window boxes. roasting the next! Then. I like to place a bracket on the wall that allows me to hang the boxes and remove them once they are used.
JUST HOW MUCH CAN YOU GROW?
The simple answer. a week’s worth of potatoes for every month between July and December. of course. and there is nothing to stop you from growing hundreds of them along paths.

particularly courgettes or cucumbers. You can even build a container at the bottom of the pallet for the plant to grow in. especially in an infrequently-used room.T HE E NVIRONMENT
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Window growing
Growing on the outside of the window can be matched by growing on the inside of the window.
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. so it makes sense to use them.
Make a frame
Many of you will know the A-frames standing outside shops. grown cress in an eggshell or carrot tops in a saucer. If you put a couple of supporting ‘legs’ on the open side of a pallet. There are very few people who haven’t. especially as the trays do not take up all of the space and block off lots of light. This is the ideal spot for starting seedlings. Windowsills can maintain even temperatures and good light intensities. The kitchen windowsill is probably the very ﬁrst place a child begins growing food. as a child. It is an easy job to put some shelving up at the windowsill. you get a directional A-frame fence against which you can grow all kinds of crops.

he made a plan.CHAPTER 2
PLANNING FOR CROPS ALL THE YEAR ROUND
John Milton in Paradise Lost tells us that before God constructed the universe.
WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED?
You don’t need many tools for patio gardening. and maybe a riddle (a wire mesh sieve) to ﬁlter the compost through. and even if we come to dislike our plan. You will also need a supply of clear polythene bags to ﬁt over plant pots and an endless supply of elastic bands to hold them in place. we can always make ourselves another.
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. A plan is the most useful tool in the gardener’s armoury because without it we end up with a confused garden. By far the most important thing is to have a space where you can ﬁll plant pots and containers with compost.

The bottle is pierced with a single small hole and the ﬂow can be controlled by leaving the lid on tight or undoing it a little. Two ordinary watering cans with ﬁne roses are needed. I have found a sufﬁciently effective alternative is made using a large (four litres if you can get it) lemonade bottle ﬁlled with water and placed either onto the absorbent mat or directly in the container itself. you can easily improvise by attaching plastic tubing from tropical ﬁsh suppliers. I say protected because the thought of a child climbing into it is horriﬁc. as is a suitably protected water butt. absorbent material. Overhead irrigation systems consist of a spray nozzle which wets a whole area as though it was raining. a foliar spray for leafy plants is useful and another ﬁne spray bottle if you are going to use any chemicals to get rid of aphids etc. In addition to this.
Irrigation systems
It is easier to incorporate automatic irrigation systems on the patio than to the rest of the garden. It is useful to have an outdoor source to ﬁll them from. You can buy the appropriate step down tubing from garden centres or online from any polytunnel suppliers. Once you have your tubing from the tap to the narrow gauge plastic. The systems work either from a manifold. An outdoor tap is a boon.
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. which draw up water by capillary action. with lots of tubes feeding a few containers.P LANNING
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Watering cans
You will need four watering cans. You can pierce the tubing at the appropriate point. A much simpler way of irrigating a number of pots at the same time is to place them on wet. The cheapest way is a tray ﬁlled with compost upon which you stand ceramic pots. one for general watering or feeding and one if you are going to use insecticide. You can buy special dripping irrigation systems that ﬂow water onto an absorbent mat. it’s always a problem having to walk with dirty feet into the kitchen. or a single tube that has little holes in it which you lay over the pots.

Plants or compost heaps are ideal ways to hide tools. Good tools are a pleasure to use and will last forever.
Cutting
Perhaps the most sophisticated garden equipment you will need is a good pair of secateurs. Even a patio gardener needs storage space. and only secateurs will do. where it can remain hidden for months. rakes and things
If your gardening involves growing in pots and containers. Buy trowels that have a leather lanyard attached to the end so you can tie it around your wrist when in use. a dessert spoon for adding fertiliser and a tea spoon for uprooting plants. A pair of scissors will do for many things. where it is always visible. especially grafting buds and cutting string. I have learned from experience that it is one thing leaving a tool in a large bed.P ATIO P RODUCE
Spades. A table spoon for loosening compost. quite another to leave it amongst some pots. you won’t need any tools. forks.
Storage
Somewhere to put utensils is more important than having them in the ﬁrst place. You can redeem the space taken up by your store by putting pots on top of it. and when (or if) it becomes necessary to cut large branches. but eventually you need to cut through wood. you might as well buy the best you can afford. Other ‘digging’ duties can be satisfactorily achieved by using spoons. and you can buy or make waterproof. and since you do not have to spend a fortune on larger equipment. lockable boxes if you haven’t room for a shed. I have once kept my garden tools in a special plastic box hidden in a pile of horse manure and no one ever dreamed of plunging their hand inside to get at them. An old dining fork is ideal for manipulating compost in seed trays as well as opening bottles and the very best tool for transplanting seedlings is an old pencil. The largest implement you will need is a garden trowel. A penknife is good for many tasks. a small tenon saw will sufﬁce. If only they knew how!
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This means having somewhere secure to put them when not in use. Remove dirt from trowels and then plunge them into a trowel safe three or four times after use. Have a jar of disinfectant ready to clean cutting tools. Secateurs
Caring for tools
Make sure your tools are always in good condition. This is a box or bucket of sand laden with a litre of ordinary oil. a kind of Zen. The action of plunging into the sand keeps the edges clean and the oil makes sure the blade is protected from the atmosphere. Always put your tools away clean and disinfected. 3. but more importantly keeping them clean and storing them correctly. like a surgeon stopping infection between plants.P LANNING
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Fig. If you are pruning around the garden make sure you wipe the blades with disinfectant between cuts.
TRAYS AND PROPAGATORS
Late winter to early spring is always a busy time for starting off seeds. By far the easiest way to begin is to have plenty of trays available and somewhere warm for them to
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. sunﬂower or vegetable is ﬁne. Make it a habit and it will become a regular part of the gardening routine.

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germinate and grow. The paper rots in the pot gradually to release the roots. Of course many crops can be started at other times of the year. and you can buy a special wooden tool that makes the job a pleasure. In order to do this properly you need to plan the space you are going to use. Alternatively. just keep the seeds from draughts and cold water. Remove the inside cup and ﬁll the paper pot with compost. making it easier to transplant the seedling. Pots made from recycled paper can be easily planted into larger pots intact. You can help this process on its way using a penknife. draught-free growing space for all those seedlings. It takes up to a month to grow seedlings ready for transplantation and you will need to put them somewhere. light-ﬁlled room. just tearing the paper a little. Propagators are useful if you have a couple of trays to get going. Seed trays can be made from old plates or modiﬁed cat litter trays. either in trays or modules or your homemade paper pots. they are likely to be constructed from thin plastic which means they can be used only once. I have found it much easier to use a warm. You should look on your seed packet for speciﬁc requirements. It doesn’t really matter if the temperature is a little lower than that needed for germination. A dining table next to a window works just as well. Once germination has been achieved. or simply buy the purpose-made ones from the garden centre. but they take up so much room. You can buy module trays which have individual compartments for seeds to be planted in.
PROVIDING A CONSTANT ENVIRONMENT FOR SEEDS
When seedlings appear. keep the seedlings in a constant environment.
I have to say that building individual pots out of newspaper has long been my favourite activity on a rainy day. but between the months of January and March you need to provide a reasonably warm. they need consistent conditions. use a strip of newspaper roughly 15cm long and a plastic cup. Your ﬁrst imperative is to get the seed wet at a temperature of around 12°C or above. roll the newspaper around the sides until three or four sheets thick and fold the base under. However.
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.

Keep well fed and watered. it is possible to grow more or less anything from the greengrocers on a patio of one sort or another. Keep well fed and watered.
Aphids. you can put on the lid in the winter for added protection. the same goes for crops like rhubarb. Ideal pot plant. Incidentally. Aphids mostly. Harvest regularly for more crop.
Aphids
Beans (broad)
Sow in pots in cool greenhouse from October onwards
Keep weed-free and well fed – a good mulch of compost is useful
Blackﬂy mostly and viral infections
Beans (French and runner)
Sow in growing position in April with supporting canes
The best ﬂavour comes from well watered plants dosed with liquid feed.
Crop Asparagus Sowing Sow and plant in March/April Growing Grow for three years before taking crop in May/June Transplant until they are in 30cm pots in the greenhouse Maintenance Keep richly fed and don’t let it dry out completely Keep well fed during growing season. However. Harvest when full coloured. Further. where you can use the dustbin lid to blanch the stalks. birds. Growing this plant in a dustbin offers a neat solution to the amount of land it needs. The list that follows is a general planting/timing guide and will apply equally to plants destined for more conventional gardens. In Chapter 5 we will look at the speciﬁc requirements for individual crops. such as asparagus. mice
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. feed weekly. Some plants. need special care and continual attention to their roots. asparagus can be grown in a dustbin but it needs new compost and careful removal of spent compost in the early spring.P LANNING
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PLANNING CROPS
Although there are some exceptions. though can get fungal infections Pests
Aubergine
Sow in March at 20°C
Basil
Sow in March in cool greenhouse
Transplant to growing spot in late April Transplant to growing pot either in November or early spring Train the plants around a wigwam.

Harvest when the heads are formed and tight. insects
Calabrese
Reasonably fertile is important.
Cabbage (summer)
Sow in pots in cool greenhouse in March
Transplant to growing positions in late April
Cabbage (autumn)
Sow in pots in a cool greenhouse in April and transplant in late May Sow in spring for a summer harvest or late September. Sow outdoors in March/April.to mid-summer. Firm well in. indoors for a spring harvest
Grow at 60cm apart for large balls. Harvest from the end of May onwards and in the early spring if sown in autumn. Thin out to about 15cm apart. Harvest when ready in early. keep weed-free and mulch with good compost Spring-sown plants should be grown to 45cm. aphids.
White ﬂy
Carrot
Sow thinly under cloches in March or directly into the ground from April to July. insects
Broccoli
Sow indoors in pots from December. Soil should be well dug and the plants should be ﬁrmed in regularly.P ATIO P RODUCE
Beetroot Sow in late March under cover and outdoors after April right through to summer Thin to about 15cm and keep weed-free. Water evenly. Autumn plants in pots and transplanted in late October.
White ﬂy.
Well-worked sandy soil with lots of nutrients
Protect from carrot root ﬂy and cover with ﬂeece in the coldest months
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. Don’t let them dry completely and feed with a little well-rotted manure or liquid feed once a month. do not let them dry out or they will split on watering White ﬂy.
Transfer to 45cm rows in April/May. Harvest as you like them – from leaves to cricket ball sized roots. Keep weed-free at 45cm apart. aphids. Sow also in September under cloches. Make sure plants are ﬁrm in the ground.

or in pots indoors in March. You can also sow in June outside. Watch the humidity. Grow at 45cm apart. Almost like tomatoes. Transplant to a deep trench of well-rotted manure in May
Harvest when headed up properly. Harvest from October until late winter
Celeriac
Celery
Sow at room temperature in March
This plant is very hungry. Blanch by drawing compost up the stems Harvest as the plant stems and roots swell
Aphids and viral diseases
Chicory
Sow indoors in pots or modules in April or outside in May. Provide protection against cold and wet weather
Aphids. fungal infections and red spider mite
Courgette
Sow in pots indoors in April and transplant in May. Add lime to the holes.
Fungal infections and aphids
Cucumber
Sow indoors in March in pots or outdoors in June
Transplant to growing position in June. You can also sow in August. Water and feed regularly. Water and feed well. sow in March/April in the greenhouse
Transplant or thin out in May. Make sure they are ﬁrmly placed. This plant takes a long time to reach maturity. whiteﬂy and aphids as well as other insects
Transplant to growing positions 45cm apart when plants are 8cm tall. Water well at the base and feed regularly. Keep watered and well fed. Can be grown in grow bags. or May for winter types Sow in March/April under heat and transplant in May
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Clubroot. Try not to wet the leaves too much. You should have a good supply of cauliﬂowers all the year round. Harvest as the courgettes appear. Keep weed-free and in the summer water with some liquid feed.P LANNING
Cauliﬂower Sow in December under heat and transplant in April. Soil to be well dug
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.
Aphids mostly
Chillies
Transplant when handleable to small pots and thence to larger ones until in 30cm pots Transplant pot-grown types in June onto a mound of richly fed and well dug ground
Harvest when the fruits are ripe in late summer.

Needs good rich soil – well drained. so you can have lettuce all year round
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. feed monthly. Endives are troublesome to transplant. Transplant in June. Aphids
Fennel
Sow indoors in March under heat or outdoors in June Plant in good rich soil from October onwards
Feed once a month. Harvest when needed. Aphids and pigeons
Leek
Sow from December to March under heat
Transplant to ﬁnal growing holes by April/May
Lettuce
Sow indoors in winter and outdoors from spring right through to summer
They need up to 12 weeks to grow. Blanch leaves with plant pot. Keep well fed. Cut a hole and simply position plant in place.P ATIO P RODUCE
Endive Sow in May/June in growing position Provide plenty of water and feed regularly. best grown in situ. Feed well for the best ﬂavour and do not protect from frost Leave all the year in ground at 45cm apart Thin out to about 45cm and keep well fed and weed-free Some say sow indoors in pots in April. Keep weed-free and harvest in late summer onwards
Garlic
Jerusalem artichoke
Plant from March until May
Harvest in the following January
Kale
Sow in sequentially from April until May
Harvest at the end of summer and through autumn and winter. You can keep a supply going all year. Harvest when bases are full. Don’t let them dry out. They do not transplant well after being a few centimetres tall. Space to around 30–45cm. Some top and tail them.

Provide support and keep in fairly rich soil. well-rotted manure and compost
Keep watered and fed all the ﬁrst year. birds
Potatoes
Plant early potatoes in March. Harvest in late summer and store carefully. A hungry plant. Grow indoors from November for a winter crop. Harvest when the pods are full
Carrot root ﬂy. Keep weed-free. Don’t let them dry. canker
Peas
Can sow indoors in September. Harvest the following May/June.P LANNING
Onions Sow indoors in December
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Aphids and fungal infections
Plant sets in March/April or in October
Plant continously and have a longer harvest over a couple of months. mice. Harvest in December/January.
Aphids. and main crop in April
Harvest early potatoes in July/August. very rich soil. earth up. maincrop in August/September Harvest from early summer onwards. Remove stalks in October as they die. Sow regularly for tender leaves
Parsley
Sow outdoors from April until July
Keep well fed and do not let it dry too much Thin to 40cm and feed regularly over the summer
Parsnip
Sow in March/April in drills outdoors
Keep weed-free in soil that is ﬁnely chopped as for carrots.
Aphids and some viral infections
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. mostly outdoors from March/April to June
Transplant into growing positions when 5cm. thin to about 20cm and feed fortnightly
Aphids. blight
Radish
Sow from March under cloche then from late April outdoors until July
Rhubarb
Plant crowns in Jan/March in very rich. Don’t let them dry completely Plant at 45cm apart in well-dug. slugs. Take only the young leaves.

Turnip
Sow in rows from March until July
Thin to 30cm. Feed once a month if you can. fungal and viral problems. an excellent growing method for apples is to espalier them along a wire framework against a wall. This is a method of pruning and training the branches of a fruit tree to grow in a single plane and is extremely popular in the large walled gardens of stately homes.
GROWING FRUIT
Though the most common idea of an orchard is a vast patch of land.
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. Harvest when seeds are just juicy Grow in grow bags. keep weed-free Aphids and fungal infections
Spinach
Sow indoors from December and outdoors from March Sow in April/May – protect from frost
Swede
Thin to 45cm and keep weed-free. yellow.) Harvest when cricket ball size from August onwards Aphids. Plant out in May in a square grid for pollination
Harvest from September
Clubroot
Sweetcorn
Sow indoors in April. For example. In a way. Water evenly – never allow to dry. or as a last resort – green. the highest technical achievements can be gained from growing fruit on the patio. make pickles Thin to about 30cm. The same is true for all top fruit. two seeds per pot
Rich soil is good.P ATIO P RODUCE
Shallots Sow indoors in December Plant sets in March/April or in October Don’t over feed – it accumulates nitrates Harvest in late summer store carefully. keep warm – protect from windy rain. water and feed weekly in summer. Harvest when red! (Or orange. it is still possible to get a lot of fruit into a small space and you are not restricted to the kinds of fruit you can grow. Feed and water well. blight
Tomato
Sow in March in pots indoors
Transplant sequentially in pots until plant is 20cm.

Needs to be kept warm.
Crop Apple Sowing Plant into container in winter Growing Grow for three years before taking crop Maintenance Dwarf forms need little care save extra rotted manure/compost in spring. not just the patio and we shall come back to them in later chapters for speciﬁc guidance.P LANNING
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Fig. well pruned and well fed Pests Aphids and fungal infections
Apricot
Plant into container in winter
Possibly best under cover or against a southerly facing wall Need to be pruned and fed in spring
Blackcurrant
Plant in November
Keep feeding during growing period
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. Feed regularly in summer. 4. Strawberry pot
The following table applies to fruit destined for all kinds of growing situations.

Keep frost-free. Grow for three years before taking crop
Kiwi
Plant in spring
Prune in April
Peach
Plant into container in winter
Don’t over water: allow the compost to dry out before watering Dwarf forms need little care save extra rotted manure/compost in spring. collect fruit in summer Complex pruning. Feed regularly in summer. employ a three-year rotation
Leaf curl
Pear
Plant into container in winter
Aphids and fungal infections
Plum
Plant into container in winter
Grow for three years before taking crop
Aphids and fungal infections
Rhubarb
Plant in January
Blanch until needed in spring Propagate the plants from runners
Strawberry
Plant in spring
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. but plenty of grapes Fungal infections
Plant into container in winter Plant in February
Gooseberries
Grapes
Plant in late winter/early spring
Feed well-rotted manure and liquid feed. Feed regularly in summer. Add extra rotted manure/compost in spring.P ATIO P RODUCE
Currants (other) Fig Plant in November Need to be pruned and fed in spring Feed in spring and keep richly fed Feed in spring and keep watered at base Keep feeding during growing period Fruits stay on the plant a long time Prune to an open aspect. Can grow indoors or out. Feed with liquid feed and fresh compost Feed in spring and summer. Feed heavily in late spring and early winter Feed during the summer in containers.

However. Normally a healthy plant will have a root system as large beneath the ground as the rest of the plant above.CHAPTER 3
PLANTS GROW DIFFERENTLY IN POTS
It is true to say that you can grow anything in a pot that you would normally grow in the garden.
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. We have to remember that plants take up a lot of invisible space. I would go further than this and say that you can grow enough of any crop plant. If the patio is restricted anywhere it is here. By growing in pots we restrict the plant at the root level. beneath the ground. and this has consequences. vegetable or fruit to make its care worthwhile. in some cases there is at least one proviso.

if you are growing crops such as carrots. The compost will spring out to reveal air spaces anyway. not much water. sand or a material called pearlite.
Water
There is an inverse relationship between air spaces and dampness of soil. However. sand has no air available to the plant either because the root gets its oxygen from that dissolved in the tiny ﬁlm of water that surrounds the soil particles. The best way of watering is to have a reservoir of water that has had a chance to warm up before taking it away to the plants. Compost in pots should always be ﬂuffy and full of air. and consequently most plants on patios need watering daily in the summertime. There is no efﬁcient way of pumping oxygen around a plant and so if roots become waterlogged. they can die from oxygen starvation. Sand has a lot of air. this doesn’t mean the plant can survive without adequate oxygen. The pot of compost has to provide a balance of both.P ATIO P RODUCE
WHAT DO PLANTS NEED?
Oxygen and carbon dioxide
All plants need air from which their supply of oxygen and carbon dioxide is taken. Whereas it is true that leaves produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. The problem with pots and containers is they are too free draining. You can increase the available air spaces in a pot of compost by adding grit. making the vegetable somewhat tougher. Cold water can bring the metabolism of the plant to a standstill and continued dousing makes it produce woody tissue. which is made from mica. Interestingly. you will ﬁnd the presence of grit will make the roots grow into strange shapes. WATER TEMPERATURE If you were to have a cold shower in the height of the day you would complain. try to water at the base of the plants. even if it is raining. or for some reason the soil in the roots becomes stagnant. and so do growing plants.
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. Clay holds a lot of water but has no air at all. though it is correct practice to compact plants into their pots. Secondly.

Pots and containers lose water quickly and their inhabitants are more likely to wilt. Wilting plant
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. On the patio there is more to think about. Do not be afraid of watering at the height of the day. It is good to avoid splashing the leaves if possible. the roots cannot replace the water lost in the leaves and eventually the columns inside the plants break under the stress. Small beads of water act like a lens. columns of water in reinforced tubes that give the plant strength. so provide water when it is needed. WHEN A PLANT WILTS Plants are amazing. but remember plants cannot draw water from beyond the boundaries of the pot. the plant produces more woody tissue. This is a desperate situation for the plant and in order to add support. If you continually allow your plants to wilt before watering
Fig. When there is no water about. They are held upright by water tension. magnifying the sun’s rays and scorching the leaf on which it stands. 5. If you sit in a ﬁeld on a hot day you can hear some of these columns popping under the stress of drought.P LANS G ROW D IFFERENTLY
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WHEN SHOULD YOU WATER? There has been a lot of talk over the years about scorching the plants by watering them at the height of the day. When this happens the column is ﬁlled with air and cannot be replaced.

HOMEMADE FERTILISERS An organic method is to stuff a pillow case with cow manure and allow this to soak in a 204 litre barrel of water. plants use up a lot of nutrients and the soil becomes less productive. placed on top of a container of salad plants. roots and all. turnips and most brassicas amaze as to how quickly they can dry a plant pot. In the heat of an August day you can water lettuces two or three times if they are growing in a pot. but you have to be sure the feed is not too strong. Consequently. though it’s a really smelly job. As the pellets are wetted a little of them dissolves into the compost and this then feeds the plants. and possibly the most expensive. way to keep the nutrient level high is to put slow release fertiliser pellets into the compost. and burn it until there was nothing left but ash. Lettuces. It needn’t be an expensive one either – simply a plastic bottle with a pin prick will sufﬁce. Carrots and plants with hairy leaves use much less water. The most convenient. WHICH PLANTS ARE PRONE TO WILTING? Water is lost to the atmosphere by evaporation from the leaves. It is a good idea to renew the leaves monthly. An alternative is to stuff the pillow case with comfrey leaves and make a tea in exactly the same way. or take water from the roots and up through the plant. A regime of feeding when watering is another idea.P ATIO P RODUCE
they will eventually become sick as fungi takes advantage of the broken tissues in the stem. plants growing in containers need a constant ﬂow of nutrients. They are either taken up by the plant or washed away by the watering regime. the mineral nutrients in the growing medium are soon removed. If you were to take a plant. Plants with waxy leaves will transpire even less. with water. provides excellent conditions for salad growth. this would give you some comparative idea of the amount of nutrients removed from the soil. Consequently plants with large leaves will transpire.
Plants need all kinds of mineral nutrients
Even in the soil of the garden. At the level of the plant pot and container. with fertiliser dissolved in it. more rapidly than plants with smaller ones. I have found that a drip system.
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. Dilute this by half with clean water.

This plant/fungus interaction is one where both organisms beneﬁt. Keep your compost bin warm! Wrap it in bubble wrap and when the compost is ready. not really enough over the year to provide all you need. They are frequently available at less than half price. sprouts. They do work. especially the brassica family (cabbages.) will not grow too well in sterile conditions. A way round this is to buy a kitchen composter. but they take a little thinking about. The solid waste can then be transferred to the compost bin. In particular. Enrich this cheap compost with the rich stuff you have made yourself. You cover the waste with an activated bran. RICH COMPOST People who garden in small areas have little room for compost heaps and what space they do have is taken up by the ubiquitous green council bin. The reason for this is that naturally they have a little help from a fungus that grows through the roots and ramiﬁcates through the whole plant. For a good supply of ‘green manure’ you need to feed the plants you will harvest as fertiliser. The total output of these bins is very low. many of them do so much better when their symbiotic partners are present. You grow a crop in the ground for its mineral content. Often you can get a good deal in October on unsold growbags. MANY PLANTS NEED SYMBIOTIC FUNGI Most plants. add some soil to your compost.P LANS G ROW D IFFERENTLY
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A WORD ABOUT GREEN FERTILISERS A lot of people grow green manures for use in the greenhouse and around the garden. These little bins take all food – even meat. mix it with the cheapest bought stuff you can ﬁnd. broccoli etc. Normally the fungi are resident in soil and whereas plants will grow where the fungi are not present. In order to improve the chances of the symbiotic relationship.
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. the plant beneﬁts from the fungal ability to release from the soil nutrients the plant cannot access. which digests everything and provides a rich liquid that can be used in your watering. but where have those minerals come from? Of course they have come from the soil the plant is growing in.

You do this by doing the nose test – have a good smell. for starting seeds off. and the system was designed to go from No 1 to No 3. I strongly believe it is time to revive its use because since the compost is soil based. You have to use your eyes too – it should look dark and crumbly. The simple truth is that if you pile up plant material it will rot down until the plants and animals living off the rotting material can get no more goodness from it. There are all kinds of composts out there. but it is very useful for patio gardeners. it doesn’t rot in the pots. and if you make your own. you are ready. but there is nothing wrong with adding a touch of packet fertiliser to the pots.
John Innes soil-based compost
Three types of compost were designed by the John Innes Institute. followed by ‘potting them on’ to their next stage and ﬁnally growing mature plants.P ATIO P RODUCE
TYPES OF COMPOST
Most people either buy or make compost. Sometimes you buy compost. The whole world of composting is slightly confusing. and is often undertaken as though it were some form of ‘dark art’ or gardening witchcraft. They were John Innes 1. others for mature plants. What is left can be thrown back on the garden to give minerals and structure back to the earth. you don’t have to look after the soil as much as you do in the rest of the garden. particularly organic compost. and packed with nutrients. just the little amount in your pot. What does it matter if you add superphosphate to your compost? You are not changing the soil.
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. some for growing seeds. and it is still rotting down in the bag so when you use it your plants rot too! A WORD ABOUT ORGANIC GROWING AND THE PATIO Organic gardening is the way people should go these days. Organic gardening principles should be adhered to when it comes to insecticides and dangerous chemicals. 2 and 3. Most gardeners don’t bother with the system any more. and it if smells sweet and earthy. you need to be sure it has completely ﬁnished rotting down. but there is an enormous but. For patio growers.

Brussels sprouts
It is a curious thing that sprouts prefer to be in soil that is well ﬁrmed in. Add per 1 cubic metre of mix of: 0. I tried growing them in large oblong tubs against a wall. To make your own John Innes compost. with the individual plants tied to it.5kg ground limestone 1kg general all purpose fertiliser
SUPPORT
One of the functions of roots is to hold the plant securely in the soil. Firstly. I have tried many ways of doing this. some distort.and container-grown plants are frequently short of support. some roots stop growing altogether. and the best thing to do is to keep an eye on things as they grow. If they grow in a loose soil the sprout buds do not form evenly and appear to explode. which didn’t do so well. You might ﬁnd yourself needing to support the most unlikely of plants.P LANS G ROW D IFFERENTLY
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THE PATIO VERSION OF JOHN INNES COMPOST Use this as multi-purpose compost in all your pots and containers. London lettuces being the most pathetic I have ever tried. There is no hard-and-fast rule as to which plants need support. pot. I also support the stems strongly to keep them from falling over. 3 of peat substitute and then 2 of sand. This worked quite well. I also tried staking them in individual 30cm pots. This being the case. This hardly ever happens properly in a pot or container.
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. I make a point of going round ﬁrming them at the roots when grown in largish containers. ﬁrst mix 7 parts of loam (good quality soil). Consequently. Once the roots touch the side of the pot they start to grow in a strange way.

Another factor is the mass of nutrients needed to make a mature plant. onions and garlic have a strong ﬂavour. This can be valuable in the case of peas. But this doesn’t mean that the produce is not worth growing. as we all know. though different in shape and slightly different in texture. but not so if you are trying to grow turnips.P ATIO P RODUCE
Some plants change shape
If you grow a cabbage in an ordinary garden bed it will grow into a ball-shaped cabbage. For example. It is hardly possible in some growing situations to provide enough. if you take all the leaves from the elongated cabbage and weigh them you will ﬁnd that the yield is much the same as the cabbage growing in the ground. If. however. just as you expect. but as they say. In some cases. the cabbage becomes a plant that can be used as a cut-and-come-again!
Small is beautiful
Another major difference with some container-grown plants is yield. This is a phenomenon where the plant responds to its environment and provides us with something of a surprise. The cabbage leaves. That said. The plant produces a smaller version of itself. Constricted roots do not always work as well as they should. are just as good to eat. You simply cannot make a cubic foot of compost provide enough minerals if the plant has evolved to live in 10 cubic metres. In order to create them the plant
34
. This comes from a number of complex molecules containing sulphur. It might be small. When they touch the side of the container some plants change their metabolism and slow down vegetative growth in favour of ﬂower production. In the case of a cabbage the plant grows about 2m tall and is covered with much smaller leaves. you need to get used to seeing your produce in a slightly different light. you grow a cabbage in a plant pot you are much more likely to see it ‘run to seed’. it is perfectly formed!
FLAVOUR
If a plant has a strong ﬂavour it usually takes a lot of chemicals to actually make it. Instead of being a round ball.

In a pot or container. It is the sulphates in the soil that are needed for good onion and garlic ﬂavour. nature crams the greatest variety of plants into the smallest area it can. If the only thing beneath a ﬂying insect is a plot full of cabbages. pack the compost with balanced fertiliser.
SKIN
Plants grown in a conventional way are insulated by the soil they grow in. that is growing a number of plants together. or fully formed for that matter. with beds. carrots and parsnips need a good supply of magnesium. don’t expect it to be fully ﬂavoured. especially in plants like turnips. However. which are then incorporated into a protein. If all you do is ﬁll a pot with compost and then water the plant until you eat it. and especially on the patio. In these conditions the plant provides itself with a protective skin usually in proportion to the variation in temperature. if you have the space. This is a situation asking for trouble.
One plant per pot
Most of the time we grow a single plant in a pot on the patio. However. To make sure the produce you grow is full of ﬂavour. This is the simple premise for having a great diversity of plants and crops in the garden. there’s a much greater chance that the insect will land on something other than your precious food plant and it will probably ﬂy a little further to where there are easier pickings. Similarly. ﬁlled with just one type of plant.P LANS G ROW D IFFERENTLY
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does some complex chemistry that converts sulphates to sulphites and sulphides. We tend to do the opposite. there are good reasons for companion planting. feed and water regularly and insulate your pots. if there is a variety of colours and crops in your plot. the plant experiences a wider range of temperatures and this ﬂuctuation can create a thicker skin. it’s likely to land on a cabbage. To get round this. partly because there is not so much room for the roots of two or more incumbents. and even whole ﬁelds.
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.
COMPANION PLANTING
Over time.

beans and cabbages. In most cases. rosemary Almost anything Onions. onions) Brassicas (cabbage family) Beans Carrot Lettuce Peas Potatoes Strawberries Tomatoes Turnips. garlic Tomatoes (same family) All alliums Potatoes Best to avoid Watch out for taint on beans Onions Onions. each in their separate pot. but there are a few that aren’t recommended.
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. for example. however.
Main crop Alliums (garlic. The table below is a good guide for companion plants. turnips Marigolds. the presence of one plant actually enhances the growth of the other.P ATIO P RODUCE
There are many combinations of plants that are beneﬁcial. marigolds Onions. marigolds Alliums. swede Suggested companion Carrots. peas Carrots. garlic
Companion planting in separate pots
When you assemble an array of different plants together. In some cases beneﬁcial fungi are killed off by the fungi of the competing plant. strawberries Almost anything Marigolds. lettuce Parsley. for various reasons. but this doesn’t mean you cannot beneﬁt from growing plants together. you miss out on any interaction at the root level. may taint the ﬂavour of peas. in other cases chemicals from one plant inhibit the growth of another. Garlic. There are many interactions between plants in the soil that we don’t fully understand. beans Beans.

Cabbage and marigold
Top ﬁve companion plants
MARIGOLD You should grow hundreds of marigolds. they distract insects from your crop and make it difﬁcult for others too. Apart from being pretty they draw insects to our plants. 6. The same goes for carrots which. or garlic plants.
Fig. Modern research shows they put chemicals into the soil that protect their roots from chemical attack and these can beneﬁt our crop plants too if we grow them in the same container. Mice. Your plan should be to disguise all your planting by surrounding them with lots of others of different species. if you surround with spring onions in pots. which drives them away – hopefully onto the neighbour’s plot!
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. don’t like the smell of marigold ﬂowers. mostly beneﬁcial ones.P LANS G ROW D IFFERENTLY
IN
P OTS
We have already hinted that there is good reason to mix your pots so the plants copy nature. including slugs and snails. will be less troubled by carrot root ﬂy. Finally. Let us say you have a cabbage in one pot surrounded by six smaller pots ﬁlled with marigolds. birds and butterﬂies. many animals. aphids and whiteﬂies are all less likely to create a menace among your cabbage. The marigolds look lovely and add variety to the garden.

The hot root is a magnet for slugs and they are such ‘easy grow’ plants you can sow a few seeds here and there to act as sacriﬁcial slug feeders. and leeks go well with carrots and parsnips.P ATIO P RODUCE
LAVENDER The heady smell of lavender is as good for humans as it is for the garden. ONION Onions. Leave a corner and a few pots of crop plants for all those insects and so-called pests to keep a foothold on life. They will eat the radishes before your crops. What would summer be like without cabbage white butterﬂies? What would the blue tits eat – or ladybirds and lacewings for that matter – if we cleared all our gardens of greenﬂy and blackﬂy? Nature’s variety is important and on her systems we all depend. albeit a small one. It complements most plants and is good on pizzas too! RADISH The evidence is that slugs just love radishes. Tudor potagers were ringed with lavender. so it’s important we do our bit to maintain them.
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. This attractive plant not only smells heavenly but also attracts hundreds of insects while also providing an antiseptic in the soil. Make a circle of these alliums in planters and grow the carrots in the middle. You can easily see where the culprits are too. Even slugs have a place in organic gardens. DON’T FORGET WILDLIFE Look after nature and she will look after you. chives. BASIL This strongly smelling plant is enough to deter many insects and all but the most Mediterranean of slugs and snails. and deal with them accordingly. Their aroma confuses the carrot ﬂy and there is a 75% chance of the little insect going somewhere else.

CHAPTER 4
THE PATIO GARDENER’S YEAR
There are many jobs the patio gardener has to get through during the year. However. Growing in pots and containers is unusual because you miss out on nature’s way of cleaning. Chapter 5 looks at all the plants on our list in Chapter 2 in greater detail. there will be a larger concentration of pathogens and rotting organisms. and whereas the timescales overlap and some of them are ongoing throughout the whole year. if the same thing happens in a pot on the patio you can be certain that there are no cleaning organisms to remove the infection left in the pot. if a part of a plant dies in the soil somewhere in the garden. For example. Unless you disinfect the pot. everything seems to have its season.
IN THE WINTER
This is the time I always take to clean everything. This chapter concentrates on the general jobs and tasks to be completed during the year. and to make sure everything is ready for the onslaught of the spring. to buy. you can be almost certain that the bacteria and fungi that rotted it will have been eaten or somehow removed by some other living organism and there will be no need to sterilise the soil.
39
. which do not bode well for a completely healthy plant next season. make. and repair containers and pots.

Having cleaned your tools. I now have an empty composter again and another which I ﬁll up over the following weeks. or last year’s leftovers is a good idea. wash all your utensils. etc. Similarly. It is also a good idea to put your gardening gloves or any protective clothing you might use through the washing machine. When growing plants in pots and containers you do not need large tools. If you live near an agricultural suppliers. shelves. You can use a sharpening service at some garden centres and the larger DIY outlets. By midsummer the compost in the bin is ready for use and I transfer it to bags for storage leaving me with an empty bin and the other for ﬁlling with material. This action puts a good deal of air into the compost. Assuming all the space you have is a patio. One is full and the other is empty. I always close up my composter in September and leave it until January. I have two composters side by side which are actually like wheelie bins with a little door at the bottom.P ATIO P RODUCE
Wash all your containers in hot soapy water and rinse them in a solution of a gardening disinfectant or Milton sterilising solution type material. but at the same time cools it a great deal. I estimate how much compost I need for the following year and use the compost I have made to enrich whatever I have left over from pots or have bought as cheap grow bags. In January. but secateurs. knives. so buying early. snippers and trowels need to be sharp. which I have left empty for that purpose. Compost is cheap in January. In January I empty as much good compost from the bottom of the ﬁlled bin as I can and then transfer all the rest into the next bin.
40
. you will not have enough room for an extensive range of composters. buy some udder wash instead of disinfectant because it does the job just as well and is much cheaper. It is a wonderful feeling to work with a tool in its best condition. greenhouse or equivalent – everything your plants come into contact with or are grown in. sharpen any blades and give them all a good covering of oil.
Check your compost
Winter days are also a good time to look at compost. even if it is old.

Fig. Planting
Order seeds early
Cold winter nights can be proﬁtably spent planning what you are going to grow. but generally the processes are the same. 7.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
COMPOST BIN ROTA
January Bin 1 Full – take out well-rotted compost for use in the garden and transfer remaining to bin 2 Empty April Empty July Empty October [ full
Bin 2
[ full
Full – take out well-rotted compost for use in the garden and transfer remaining to bin 1
Empty
IN THE SPRING
Spring sowing
There is a detailed. speciﬁc sowing and growing section for all the plants later in the book. Boxing Day is traditionally the time when we sow onion seeds in readiness for planting the onions outdoors. If you can buy seeds direct from the seed merchant. rather than waiting for the garden centre
41
. Sowing and planting can begin indoors from December onwards.

In other words. PELLETED SEED Seeds that are surrounded with a water-absorbent coating material provide the grower with a number of options. the seed is bigger and easier to handle. Warm seed does not last long as bacterial and fungal infections can take hold more easily. and F3 the second and so on. you can ensure your crops will be planted on time. I have found that often they have been under lights or in other unsuitable positions. since a quarter of your yield will not resemble the rest.P ATIO P RODUCE
to rebuild their stock. They must be stored in a cool. F2 is the the product of the ﬁrst hybrid. around 25% will resemble one grandparent. F1 hybrids are the ﬁrst hybrid grown from two separate plants. Of course their growing properties depend on the how well they have been stored. Firstly. You will also have the best quality seeds. dry place. wrapped in their packets inside a lidded box or tin. Seeds that have been stored well for a year will still germinate at 95% the rate of brand new ones. F1 are usually very successful plants as long as you do not wish to collect the seeds from your plants to save for next year. 25% will resemble the other grandparent and 50% will resemble their parents. You can store seeds. although supermarkets do stock seed in the early spring. the offspring might have some of the characteristics of both. But if you cross all the offspring.
What kind of seeds should I get?
F1 Hybrid seeds A small genetics lesson: if you pollinate one plant with another. though two years old is somewhat hit and miss. F1 hybrids usually have vigour not normally found in the other types.
Storing seeds
Growing in pots and planters means that you do not need a lot of seed at any one time. away from the possibility of vermin eating your stores. they grow quickly and often have a more developed disease resistance. you will notice that not all the plants will reproduce truly. I use an old tea tin with several pieces of kitchen paper to absorb any moisture. Seed merchants always send out catalogues in gardening magazines and if you buy one in December or January you will have more catalogues than you need. The pellet
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.

What I mean by this is we sow seeds in spring and consume the plant in a single year. and at around 40p each they are good value compared with ﬂimsy ones that last only a season and are almost as expensive. Rhubarb similarly. around 36cm by 22cm. those tiny onions you can buy and push into the ground. When you grow them they simply become large onions and never ﬂower. with a close-ﬁtting plastic lid to maintain the air temperature and humidity around the seedling and more importantly to cut out draughts of cold air. which take many forms. The downside is the increased cost. even if the plant would normally live for more than one year. They are quite ﬂimsy and do not withstand a lot of handling.
Indoor seed sowing
In the late winter and early spring the garden comes indoors while we start seeds off either in trays or modules or the paper pots we described earlier. Secondly. have grown for one year and then are frozen to kill the ﬂower bud. Onion sets. They are so elegant compared with modern plastic structures.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
that surrounds the seed is impregnated with anti-fungal agents and a little fertiliser. try to go for the more rigid ones because they will last longer. can be bought for very little money. If you are buying new trays. they have an increased and rapid germination to seedlings because of their fertiliser content and a more consistent germination because of the fungicide. biennials and perennials
When working in pots and containers we more or less treat everything as annuals.
Annuals. Years ago they used to be made from wood.
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. The most common way of starting seeds is in propagators. Onion seeds will grow into an onion in year 1 and then go to seed in year 2. PROPAGATORS A simple plastic tray. Plants like asparagus (YES! It is possible to grow asparagus on a patio) are planted as a crown into compost that is refreshed each autumn. and if you have any of these you are lucky indeed.

on top of which the heating cable is coiled. The lid will make it draught-free and the greenhouse effect will keep the plants warm during the day. They are usually ﬁtted with a lid and hold up to three standard-sized trays. If you are sowing cabbages or other plants that do not need much in the way of heat. Again you can set the temperature exactly and since they are double insulated you don’t have to worry about minor water spillage. Then you cover it with another inch or two of sand. The seeds receive a gentle heat from the sand.P ATIO P RODUCE
HEATED PROPAGATORS Electronically controlled propagators with under-soil heating are expensive to buy but do create exact results. You need a large tray with a deep lip for this method. You can set the temperature to exactly what it says on the seed packet for germination. but far cheaper. This is slightly less easy to control. Some seed trays come with grooves that are supposed to be designed for ﬁtting heating cable into them. which is a little like an electric blanket but is used to stand a propagator tray on. COLD FRAMES Every patio can afford space for a cold frame. though. You can heat these easily at night by simply ﬁtting a night light candle into the space of a hollow concrete block. buy or build a small cold frame. Usually.
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. These are less exact than the heated propagator. but still enables you to alter the temperature. HEATING CABLE You can also buy insulated heating cable. This is more than enough to keep the frost away. In the tray place about an inch or two of sand. preferring to bury the cable in sand as described. HEATED MATS You can buy a rubberised mat. You place your propagator trays on top of this. heated propagators cater for only standard-sized trays and consequently they are no use for plant pots and other non standard-sized containers. mainly for ease of use but also because the sand spreads the heat much more evenly and gently. I tend to ignore this design completely.

bring the plants into the light. What follows refers to propagator trays and we will come back to the other pots. Secondly. when they have deﬁnite leaves in place. lift the lid for some time during the day to allow excess moisture-laden air to escape. However tempted you are. Too much heat brings with it two other problems. they are too hot. a phenomenon known as etiolation. they become progressively weaker too. the better they will be once they are grown.
Preparing the compost for seed sowing
I have found over the years that the more care you take with seedlings. but as soon as leaves peep from the compost surface. thinking she would beneﬁt from all that lost heat. THE AIRING CUPBOARD Many people have discovered the airing cupboard is a good place to start seedlings off. modules and trays later. HUMIDITY If the seedlings are in a draught-free place. keep the trays of seedlings away from radiators and other domestic heaters. Do not keep the seedlings too hot. too much heat leads to water evaporation and consequently water stress. If you have to cool them down by watering.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
What to avoid
Try to set your seeds off in as even a temperature as you can. Young cells can burst very easily in seedlings and this can lead to infection problems in the ﬁrst month of life. Excessive growth in the ﬁrst days of growth can lead to weaker stems which can pose problems when it comes to the transplanting stage. She was lucky that her contraption was noticed before she ﬁlled her house with poisonous gases.
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. This is ﬁne for the actual germination process. But this growth is at the expense of the seedling and not only do they grow taller. One lady I knew put a glass box (a large homemade affair) around the ﬂue of her domestic boiler to grow plants in. This way the seedlings will grow stronger and you will be able to avoid the fungal infections so often encouraged by excess moisture. Many people remember that seedlings grow quickly in the dark.

I have a piece of wood that ﬁlls the tray exactly. This is ﬁrmed again. Fill the tray with compost and then put it in the oven at 125°C (Gas [) for 20 minutes. You are looking for a neat ﬁnish that you can mark or punch holes in or simply lay seeds on top. Usually only cress is sown in this way. WETTING Once the compost is ﬁrmed in and marked out it is time to introduce water. MARKING OUT When using trays I like to mark the compost as a guide to sowing. FILLING THE TRAY Fill the tray with seed compost to a depth of around an inch (2. If you are going to make seed compost from homemade supplies you ought to sterilise the basic material ﬁrst.P ATIO P RODUCE
MAKING SEED COMPOST Seed compost has some beneﬁts over multi-purpose compost. so you have squares that are around 2cm over the surface. You need to get a ﬁrm base so that if you were to touch it with your ﬁngers you would not disturb the material. On top of this ﬁll with more compost to about half an inch (1cm) from the top of the tray. My recipe for seed compost is 75% sieved compost (you can use a colander if you don’t have a riddle) 15% garden sand and 10% vermiculite. The times when you simply broadcast seeds over the surface of the compost are few indeed. For everything else you will beneﬁt from some structure in the way you sow.
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. This is done by ﬂoating the tray in a bowl of water (the washing up bowl is useful here) until it can be seen seeping through to the surface and everything is visibly wet. You can buy vermiculite from the garden centre. but not so strongly as before. An old baking tray is ideal for this. Press this down ﬁrmly with a small piece of ply wood.5cm). It is ﬁner. it drains more easily and is eventually easier to transplant from. Lay the tray on one side and allow it to drain any excess. Simply mark out a grid with a ﬁne point such as a pencil or dibber. the one substance needed to make the seeds burst into life.

SOWING SMALL SEEDS If you are growing in pots and containers. any colder will stop the growth of the plants. For example. Sprinkle the tray with sieved compost and ﬁrm down to maximise the seed’s contact with the damp compost. and we talk about doing drill. by which we mean working in straight lines. The seeds will not need watering for some time. A drill is a scrape in the soil around about 3 inches/8cm deep in a straight line – we often call a line of soldiers a drill. If you can buy or clean out a plastic bottle that delivers a ﬁne spray. For many plants it is customary to plant two seeds together and reject the slowest growing. A large seed should be pushed under the surface every 2 inches/5cm. Place the lid on the propagator and leave it alone.
47
. Create a small hole about ] inch/2cm deep with a pencil and place a seed in each. Use water at a temperature of around 10C. water with a ﬁne rose or give a soaking from underneath. You can carefully move the compost to see if the seed is showing signs of germination and if necessary remove the old seed and pop in another. The rose is the sprinkler at the end of the watering can (you can get watering cans with different sized holes) – it needs to be rose really or else gardeners will laugh. When the plants have started germination you might ﬁnd there are one or two places where the seed hasn’t germinated. but we will come back to that when we talk about sowing in pots. soak the seeds in water overnight. Preferably use rainwater than tap water because some of the chemicals added to tap water can kill off some of the beneﬁcial microbes on the seeds. This goes for whenever you water the seedlings too – a douse of cold water will only cause the plants to stop growing.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
SOWING LARGE SEEDS If you are starting off peas and beans indoors (and we will look at other ways of sowing these plants in later chapters). Within a week you should start to see the ﬁrst leaves pushing through the compost. it isn’t always possible to mimic the big garden world. all the better. many small seeds are sown in drills. Alternatively. At this point give them a small sprinkle of water.

You need to load it with compost in the same way as for any seed.P ATIO P RODUCE
Fig. or you can simply stand the tube on the ﬂoor or in an old pot. The drainpipe will be as deep as you want the carrot to grow. Personally. Drainpipe carrot
Carrots in sawn off drainpipes Many plants that bear small seeds. such as carrots. Remember to pierce the base so that it can drain. You can make a ﬁne local climate for the seeds by placing a clear plastic bag over each tube and hold it in position with an elastic band. What follows assumes you are growing carrot seeds in sawn off drainpipes. And of course this depends on what you are growing and what you are growing in.
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. Block off the bottom of the pipe with tape. and split in half length ways so you have two halves that are tied or taped together. ﬁrming down. do not take to being transplanted (you end up with all kinds of strange shapes) so the thing to do is to sow them where they will grow. 8. I worry about whether a single tiny seed will germinate and I sow a small number – around three and then sprinkle some compost on the top. Give it a good soaking with water from above with a ﬁne rose watering can.

Sow three seeds in each and select the best growing plant. right into the summer if you want them before you place your cabbages into their ﬁnal growing positions. then top up with good.
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. Treat the modules exactly the same way as a seed tray and sow three cabbage seeds into each one. using another cup to pat the compost down. The beauty of these pots is that the seeds will grow for ages. Firm down and wet in the usual way. rich compost. You should have a series of seedlings clumped together in each section but also spread evenly over the tray. I then make a layered compost in the usual way. and even buy them especially for the job. Then allow them to germinate and when the plants are healthily large select only a single plant in each module. without making a large hole – a crack is enough. Then ﬁnish off by sprinkling compost on top and ﬁrming down. The bottom of the pot is ﬁlled with 50:50 mixture of compost and lime. but they grow in all kinds of situations from hanging baskets to single pots. Sowing cabbages in modules You can buy seed trays already divided into compartments known as modules. This is the healthiest looking. I try not to handle seeds too often so I use the packet to carefully sprinkle around three seeds per section on the surface of the compost. The idea is that you ﬁll each module with compost and then push your ﬁnger through the bottom of the ﬂimsy plastic to get the plant out. Prepare your tray of compost and mark it out as mentioned previously. I use the thick insulated polystyrene cups and I pierce through the bottom for drainage. They serve here to illustrate broadcast sowing in a tray.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
Sowing radishes in trays Growing radishes can be a little tricky because they need to be transplanted early so you do not get misshapen plants. Sowing cabbages in drinking cups I save drinks cups or yoghurt pots. You are aiming to get around 30 marked out sections on the compost. This selection is made by simply pulling the other two plants out and allowing the ﬁnal one to grow. I ﬁll about the bottom third of the cup with this mixture. not necessilary the largest.

Even the lightest pressure on the stem will kill the plant. USE THE PENCIL to do the moving and pull only lightly on the leaf. already wet. GET ORGANISED Organisation is key for successful transplantation. The ﬁrst pair of seed leaves produced by dicotyledons are usually a completely different shape from the true leaves they produce next. you need to have your pot ready to receive the seedlings with ﬁrmed compost in place. TWO KINDS OF LEAVES Most plants that need pricking out are known as dicotyledons. not as a handle. Pricking out is an important skill akin to minor surgery in the potting shed.P ATIO P RODUCE
How to transplant – pricking out
There are many different types of seedling and you will have to depend on the seed packet for very speciﬁc instructions. The holes in this case should be spaced at around 6cm/2[ inches for the plants to grow. If you have everything ready. which means they appear from the seed with two ﬁrst seed leaves. HANDLE THE STEM. lever the seedling out of the compost. choose the seedlings you are going to prick out. Carry the seedling to the prepared hole in the pot and use the pencil to guide the rootlet carefully into the hole. but just as the second leaves are appearing they can be used as a convenient handle to prick out the plants. These ﬁrst leaves eventually shrivel away. or the kitchen window if that’s all you have. Then gently inﬁll the hole with compost using the ﬁngers and
50
. The other group – monocotyledons appear with only one. without blemish or deformity. your job will be all the easier. In the transplantation of radishes (a good example of dicotyledons). NEVER. With a pencil (a pencil is by far the best tool for the job) make small 1cm/[ inch round holes about 3cm/1[ inches deep in your pot. Carefully push your pencil through the compost next to the plant and holding only the leaf as a guide. They should be robust plants. Many plants need to be taken from the seed tray to a second pot and from there to a third pot and so on. In the seed tray.

Look under the pot. If the plant is about ` of the size of the pot then it is around the right time to pot on. to encourage a strong root ball and not allow the plant to grow too leggy. if you see a little root peeping through the drainage hole. sometimes it is necessary to pot on from one sized pot to the next. it is sometimes possible to plant seeds in paper pots and simply place this pot into its ﬁnal growing position. pricked out the seedlings into an 8cm/3 inch pot and from there into a 12cm/6 inch pot before ﬁnally placing the plant into its ﬁnal growing position. However. Potting on is easier if you have grown them in plastic pots to begin with. Pots go up in steps With some exceptions. as we have already discussed. I remove every other radish plant when the pot looks full and use them in salads and stir fry meals. Lightly ﬁrm the seedling in place and water with a ﬁne mist spray. like the radish we planted out earlier.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
pencil. Cover the new pot with a clear plastic freezer bag and place it in a cool but draught-free place. or long in the stem. you should plant only into the next size pot. How to know when to pot on This is something of a judgement you need to get used to making.
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. You allow only a little extra space for the plant to grow into because this keeps the roots in a good ball. You need to prepare your second pot to receive the plant. Simply ﬁll to a depth of _ of the pot with good compost. You will have sown in a tray. You might want to use a soil-based compost at this stage. rather than spreading out and becoming leggy as this opens them up to the possibility of damage and decay. allowing space for the rest to grow – but more of that later! POTTING ON As already mentioned. incorporating maybe a little of the fungal hyphae (the thread-like ﬁlaments making up the fungus) some plants need. This is frequently done with tomatoes. and not simply use a huge container. with this spacing in a large pot the plants will grow rapidly and soon begin to crowd each other. Incidentally. This is done to keep the plants secure in the pot. Within a few days the seedlings should be growing normally. it is time to pot on.

between March and the end of April. Without teasing the roots (something you see gardeners doing on the television and is quite wrong as tearing the roots is detrimental to the plant). press the new plant into position and water with 10°C water from a can with a ﬁne-holed rose. hold the plant very gently between the ﬁngers and turn the plant upside down. Carefully. but ﬁrmly. Tap ﬁrmly on the base of the pot and pull it off.
Job Sow under cover Variety Broccoli Summer cauliﬂower Summer cabbage French bean Runner bean Sweetcorn Tomatoes Beetroot Brussels sprouts Carrots Main crop onions Spring onion Main crop peas Lettuce Shallots Cropping Up to 125 days July onwards August onwards June onwards July September August onwards June onwards September onwards June onwards August June onwards July June onwards August
Sow outdoors
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.
Spring jobs
The following should be used as a quick guide to help you remember the many spring tasks. place the plant into its new pot centrally and ﬁll in the gap between the compost and the wall of the new pot. Cup the open end. The plant should come loose.P ATIO P RODUCE
TRANSFERRING THE PLANT Simply rub your plastic pot through your hands to loosen the compost round the edges a little.

IN THE SUMMER
The delicate change from spring to summer brings with it many special jobs for the patio grower. Fruit trees in particular need special attention at this time. you need to feed the plant in early summer to avoid lots of June drop. and in the case of apple trees particularly. birds and cold winds by draping plants with ﬂeece All fruit against fungal infection by spraying with Bordeaux mixture July–August onwards August onwards June onwards
Harvest
Feed Pests and diseases
Protect
Maintenance Ventilate
Item Open cold frames
Special requirements On warm days open up your cold frames to give air to the hardening-off seedlings. This is where the plant discards a quantity of the young developing fruit as it grows only
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. as the roots are restricted because of the pot. Close them at night. that are quite different from those facing the deep soil gardener.
Prepare
Make homemade manure by ﬁlling a pillowcase of well-rotted manure. This causes the plant to become restricted itself. tying off and soaking in a water butt.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
Plant outdors Main crop potatoes Onion sets Strawberries Parsnip Wintered spring onion Beets and kale Spring ripening lettuce Cauliﬂower All container-grown fruit Young slugs and snails Birds Pea moths Aphids Fruit blossom from frost.

They are extremely acrobatic and will climb over other plants to get to the plants they want. It works particularly well with lettuce. if you can. Large leafed plants such as lettuce and cabbage transpire a large amount. thus making them difﬁcult to use. However. birds and mammals to eat. If you are going away.
Leaf trimming
If there is a drought coming along. when diluted and sprinkled. However. sometimes many hundreds of thousands in each garden. I ﬁrmly believe bait.
Dealing with pests
On the patio there is a number of pests you have to look out for more vigilantly than in the garden. During May. but not so effectively. some are a little trickier. There is a number of nematode worm preparations that. You can put a line of salt around the pots and planters. The biological control methods for dealing with them do work. and so the fruit falls. You can eat the cuttings and leave the plant better able to deal with drought. infect slugs and kill them. de-compact some of the compost in the container and add a mulch to protect the surface of the soil. SLUGS AND SNAILS On the patio these molluscs are fewer in number than in the garden but they do come along to the patio in search of food. or are at work all day you might consider if it is important to reduce the plants’ ability to transpire. some easily dealt with. on the patio you are going to encounter only strays. The basic. it cannot transpire so much water. successful way of dealing with slugs and snails depends on making a barrier from the mollusc to the plant.P ATIO P RODUCE
what it needs. If the plant has a smaller area. feed all the fruit with a multi-purpose fertiliser and. should not be left on the patio because it is more readily available for pets. you need to have a plan for watering. the normal slug pellet. Reducing the leaf area by half will stop this. They are fewer in number because they lay eggs in the soil and remain there in huge numbers. with small pots they are easily washed away and a cold night will kill the nematodes. Check your pots every day for moisture content and be sure you never let plants dry out completely.
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.

Aphids survive the winter as eggs and appear as small adults in the spring. The animals get an unpleasant shock from the copper as their moist bodies make an electric cell. particularly fruit. but the one with a 100% success rate on my patio is to stand the pots on copper rings. the plant begins to fall over or wilt. Grey mould becomes a particular problem on tomatoes and cucumbers grown in greenhouses and polytunnels. Sandpaper works well enough.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
This kills the snails and you have to clear them away. Honeydew promotes fungal infections as spores fall on the plant from the air and grow rapidly in the sugary syrup. By these methods they very quickly take advantage of the new vegetable growth in the garden. Some aphids produce alternate generations of wingless and winged forms. Some botrytis and ﬁlamentous grey moulds are attributable to aphids. You can buy a product made from sheep’s wool that works quite well too. A second way is to put the pots on a surface they do not like. Also. some of these offspring produce wings and ﬂy off to another host. it reproduces to produce an infestation within hours. They use their mouthparts to pierce the tubes in the stem that carries sugar from the leaves to the rest of the plant. APHIDS Aphids. but is expensive. Aphids survive on any number of vegetables from lettuce to cabbage – anything with ﬂesh soft enough for their mouthparts to pierce. This syrup is under high pressure and gushes through the insect and pours all over the plant as a liquid known as honeydew. mostly greenﬂy and blackﬂy. Aphid problems The boring mouthparts of the insect cause damage inside the plant and in the process they break many water-bearing tubes in the stem. When the numbers build up. If enough are pierced. plant viruses are spread around the garden by aphids. Economically this is important and can knock out many of your lovingly-grown crops. often mating on the way to lay eggs. The ﬁrst adult is wingless and she gives birth without mating to dozens of smaller versions of herself.
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. cause all sorts of problems in the garden from wilting plants to creating fungal and viral infections. and once a lone insect lands on its host.

This is possibly the most effective control method but perhaps not the best for garden and personal health. Late blight is a serious headache because you can lose your spuds and tomatoes too. You can buy hand-pumped sprays diluted to the right strength and all you have to do is treat your plants. No matter how safe the manufacturers say they are. I personally cannot bring myself to spray my food with complex chemicals.
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. they are doomed. but it is perhaps a little messy. and late. so I prefer a more organic method. These are the fruiting bodies of the fungus. all in the course of a single day! It takes hold of your crop within 24 hours and comes once the rain has interrupted a week or so of glorious weather. early. but I have never seen them actually keep plants free from infestation. The easiest way to remove aphids is to rub them off with your thumb and ﬁnger. Even if there are just a few spores on a wet potato.P ATIO P RODUCE
Treatments for aphids Of course you could spray your plants with all sorts of poisons to kill aphids on the patio. Spraying them with a high-powered jet with a hint of simple soap in the water dissolves the waxy covering on the insect and they simply dry out and die. You can also buy lacewings and ladybirds. which means that both potatoes and tomatoes get it. especially online. you have blight. Just check On the leading edge of the black spots you can see little white hairs. It is caused by a fungus and comes in two forms. BLIGHT Blight is a devastating disease of the Solanaceae. If you see these. This can happen in just a few hours and you have to work fast to save your crop. which hardly causes any problems at all. The ﬁrst signs are big black splodges on the leaves and then the blackening of the whole plant. as well as some plants in the ﬂower garden. The adults and grubs of both these insects eat lots of greenﬂy.

Otherwise they will be black and mushy. any rain will create just the right humid conditions necessary for blight to grow.
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. Plant them thinly. Then give the soil a treatment of disinfectant. Control Firstly. water only at compost level. You need to cut off the vines at soil level without disturbing the roots. Then hope for the best. don’t compost them. water tomatoes very carefully. not damping the leaves at all. and stop spores washing from the leaves to the soil. just to improve ventilation around the plants. In the second or third week of July. go and change your clothes. Make sure there is plenty of air around each potato. avoid watering the plants over the leaves. Secondly. when you get warm weather. do not save potatoes for growing next year. so that the microclimate for each plant doesn’t remain hot and moist. Wipe them dry and store them on a shelf in a dry. Plant new stock. BURN the vines.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
Conditions for growth In July. it’s more humid in the greenhouse and therefore blight is more easily spread. If they have remained uninfected a week later they should be still sound. Recent research has shown that the fungal spores occur at the highest concentration in the splash zone where water and mud accumulate on the stalks of the plants. Research has shown that copper-based fungicides have no impact on this disease. this will help control humidity. have a good wash and then pull up the tubers. Remember. cut out some of the potato vines. Be careful just to water at soil level. and make sure there’s a lot of ventilation space around each vine. In the greenhouse. so washing with things such as Bordeaux mixture is of little value. cool place. Always disinfect your hands and tools before going from the potato patch to the greenhouse to prune the tomatoes and visa versa. preferably varieties with high disease resistance. preferably in a pot beside the plant.

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DAMPING OFF This is a strange-sounding name for a plant pest but it is actually a very common fungal disease. It is to be found in soil and attacks the stems of young plants and seedlings. This occurs mostly in humid conditions and high temperatures. It is much more prevalent in the spring, when new seedlings emerge, but is also found when you plant on patios because the tendency to water more increases the humidity and consequently increases the chances of the disease. The fungal spores are found on all kinds of surfaces. What damping off looks like Seedlings and young plants suddenly collapse at the surface of the compost. There are lots of fungal hairs (or hyphae) all over the plant and it is these that distribute the spores. Once the plants are infected there is nothing you can do to get them to recover. Control Make sure your trays and pots are sterilised with a garden disinfectant. Try to sow thinly so as to reduce the humidity around each plant. You can water with a quarter-strength solution of a copper-based fungicide, Bordeaux mixture. This has been used for many hundreds of years and, until recently, has been a recognised organic treatment. VINE WEEVILS Hardly known ﬁfty years ago, the vine weevil has come into prominence because of the number of container-bought plants that have, over the years, been sold from garden centres. Weevil attack is increasing not only in tubs and patio plants but in polytunnels, and in beds and plots. As more plants are grown abroad and shipped into the UK this problem is going to increase over the next few years, particularly as new species of weevil arrive that have no real predators. The adult weevil feeds on leaves of almost every plant going, but hardly eats enough to cause anything more than an unsightly semicircular notch. The larvae feed voraciously on roots and can damage plants enough for them to die. They particularly like young roots with the consequence that spring-growing plants are particularly susceptible. Most species of vine weevil are almost entirely female. All the eggs laid by these individuals are genetically identical to their mother. Weevils are ﬂightless but very good at walking and consequently spread around the garden easily. They can climb the vertical faces of ﬂowerpots – even the plastic ones.
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If you notice a leaf with a little semicircular notch on it you can guarantee there are weevil eggs in the soil near the roots. The symptoms of larval attack are yellowing leaves and wilting plants that do not respond to watering. You are almost sure to have lost the plant, but you might try shaking the compost off the roots and replanting. The grubs are frequently dug out of the soil and look like a greyish white caterpillar that invariably holds itself bent double. I must confess that if I kill anything in the garden, I make sure it is not wasted. Simply put the grub on the path and by the time you have gone inside a bird will have eaten it. Control of vine weevils Vine weevils are controlled in a number of ways. You can try growing sacriﬁcial plants that the grubs prefer to eat, such as primula, polyanthus and cyclamen. These plants, when grown around your crops, will attract the adults away from your growing area. There is a number of products that use nematodes to kill grubs in the soil. Steinernema kraussei works down to 8°C while Heterorhabditis megidis works a little warmer. Products such as Nemasys are widely available and work well if you make sure you follow the instructions. Finally, because the adults are nocturnal, leave traps of cardboard egg boxes for them to rest under during the day. It is surprising how many you can catch. A WORD ABOUT BIOLOGICAL CONTROL Organic growing is best on the patio It might be that you are used to what is called conventional gardening, that is to say using poisons against insects and other pests in the garden. However, there are some good reasons for using organic principles wherever you can on the patio. The problem with growing in pots and containers is that you need to water more frequently, feed more often and use more fertiliser, and consequently, you would probably use more chemicals – and in the end plants would accumulate more. No matter how safe people say certain chemicals are, I have always worried about the safety of
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such chemicals for growing vegetables on the patio. I am sure there will be some people who will applaud this comment and possibly just as many who will say I am some sort of green freak. So be it, I just worry that’s all. But that doesn’t mean that we just have to lie down and allow Mother Nature to bring all her creation to our patio for a good dinner every day. There are alternatives to using chemicals on the patio. Biological control Whatever you say about it, biological control doesn’t work as effectively as a chemical in the garden. But it is possible to make it work more effectively on the patio – except for slugs and snails. But then there are other ways of doing this as we have already said. The problem in the garden is that it is too big and difﬁcult to control. A box full of ladybird larvae in a garden is not going to gobble all the aphids there, and by the time they have lumbered up the infected plant a second generation of winged insects has already legged it to the next part of the garden. But on the patio you can box clever. You can put a plastic bag around plants you are treating and then allow the biological control plants to get on with their job. On the patio, which is much more compact than the ordinary garden, there is more chance of concentrating biological control methods than in the garden. Consequently there is a better chance of making it work at a reasonable cost.
Pest Aphids Product Aphidoletes Aphidius Cryptolaemus Hypoaspis Leptomastix Phytoseilius Phytoline Control 2000 Notes Best in the greenhouse As above Ladybird Best in greenhouse

Jerusalem artichokes.
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It is time to plant garlic
The autumn is time to plant garlic. plants destined for the kitchen I buy specially. Although supermarket corms do grow well. breaking up corms from the ones we might eat. planning for next year too. However. especially harvesting and preparing plants for the winter. helping them to grow for longer on the patio so that you don’t have to harvest them. The garlic for this purpose. around the edge of planters to act as guardsmen protecting the planting inside. but a large pot is excellent – particularly for the horseradish. I like to grow garlic in rich compost in the holes of breeze blocks. Artichokes and horseradish can both be invasive when grown in bare soil. and the more ways you can ﬁnd to grow it. I simply use from the supermarket. preferably before November.P ATIO P RODUCE
Plant outdoors Potatoes – late in May Potatoes – August and bring indoors for Christmas Plant indoors Crop Tomatoes Asparagus All salad crops Strawberries Rhubarb First cabbages Early potatoes Autumn Christmas Summer Use a knife just under the soil
IN THE AUTUMN
The patio gardener has a lot to do in autumn. they never attain the size or the quality of those plants grown specially for the UK climate. Since I like garlic I don’t mind the odd taint some crops pick up. the better. and of course. rhubarb and horseradish can all be planted in the autumn. in pots all over the garden. I plant a lot of garlic simply to disguise the other plants.

so work as much manure or organic matter you can. In the spring. pears and gooseberries
After the apple harvest. Trees grown in pots. and the plant will grow very large out of the bin. The lid is left down after a couple of tubers are planted in the soil-based compost that ﬁlls about ] of the bin. the lid of the bin is opened when the plant is seen pushing itself up through the compost.
Apples. This can be taped back into position to stop the compost falling out. on dwarﬁng rootstocks. cow for lighter conditions. with a little soluble feed. All enjoy well-drained. use horse manure for heavy soils. but be careful! Try to cut a piece that is at least 18 inches/50cm high. is to plant artichokes in the bin. Then you can think about planting crops in it. Prune gooseberries. keeping the compost. which can be enriched with well-rotted manure to grow potatoes in exactly the same way. but be careful not to prune them too heavily. prune both apples and pears. In this instance. place a bulk-order for manure and leave it to rot down over the winter. Keep it watered. Take any crowded side-shoots down to
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. If you do.
Growing in a wheelie bin
A bank of wheelie bins make perfect growing containers for a number of crops. if you don’t have a problem with birds. In October. I reduce the branches by only a third of their length. and the reason for mentioning it in the autumn.T HE P ATIO G ARDENER’S Y EAR
Artichokes need a much larger tub. They are made even more useful by cutting a chunk from the bottom of the front with a saw. If you have a choice. rich soil. will not grow too high or extensive anyway. You run the risk of making the plant unproductive by heavy pruning.
Get some manure
If you have the space. then put this off until March otherwise they’ll steal all the buds. open the door and pull out the tubers.

Get yourself a few planks and walk on only these while you give your patio stones a good cleaning. When pruning.
Wildlife
Make sure you check for hedgehogs when working around the patio.
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. If it has spent some time lying on the ground then it isn’t worth composting. Leeks grown in pots will do especially well because they become soft and mushy if they are too frosted when grown in pots. but if there are lots of rotting leaves there. remember the aim is to have an open centre in each bush. Frogs and toads are also vulnerable. This is the most important job if you want an edible crop.
Pests
Place nets over brassicas to protect them from pigeons. indeed all your appetising crops such as salads.and rubbish-free. where they sit out the winter in the mud at the bottom.P ATIO P RODUCE
two or three buds. to make it easier to pick the fruit later in the year. and if you keep a pond. Have a bonﬁre and use the ashes in compost. Remove dead leaves from brassicas to keep infections down and press in sprouts to keep the buttons ﬁrm on the plant. make sure it is leaf. the oxygen content of the water will not be enough to support life. or keep aside for later use (it actually makes great cat litter).
Cleanliness in the garden
The human foot is responsible for moving more disease around the patio than any other means. mixed with leaf mulch. Pick up your rubbish and burn it. Move the plants that are still in production nearer to the house wall. late carrots and onions. It is remarkable how much rubbish falls behind pots and containers that we have become used to looking at. leaving any that are in the right place at full length. When it gets cold the ﬁrst instinct for frogs is to head for water.

For me it is important that we do not sit in judgement on the wildlife that visits our gardens.
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Wash and disinfect bird feeders and. keep them ﬁlled regularly. prefer blue tits over magpies and I can’t understand why. but why should this be reason enough for us to discourage them with stones? Similarly. Yes. squirrels are persecuted to the expense of song birds. through the winter and spring. Some people. well. Do not allow any fallen seeds or fat to remain because it will cause fungi to grow which will eventually kill more birds than having no food at all. magpies eat baby blue tits. especially if we feed them well enough. not in my garden. for some inexplicable reason.

Then some of the stems. Prepare the pot by ﬁlling _ with compost. Tease out the roots to make an upturned ‘V’ shape and then spread over the mound. also known as spears. You need to plant crowns at a distance of around 1m or 3ft apart in the ground. which is a rhizome or underground stem. They should be planted in March and a container with an area of around 1m by 1m is important. It dies back in the winter. are allowed to grow for the year so that the plant grows stronger.
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.CHAPTER 5
HOW TO GROW VEGETABLES ON THE PATIO
The following is a comprehensive A-Z guide to growing the most popular vegetables on the patio. The whole plant is then buried in rich loamy compost. then create a small mound in the centre.
GROWING ASPARAGUS
Normally this plant needs a lot of space and the way it grows is to build an underground stem which then throws out little stalks in the early summer. so only one plant per pot. The plants come as ‘crowns’. which we eat.

This is a novelty patio plant with a divine ﬂavour!
Asparagus at a glance
Pot size Large – at least 1m2 Sow/Plant March – outdoors Care Feed fortnightly with basic fertiliser. as you need plenty of space to allow the plant to throw up a lot of spears. They grow quite a large plant. so you must allow for this. You might wish to provide support with a cane or two. Container-grown asparagus does not particularly produce a large crop. Allow the plant to grow normally for three years before taking the spears the following May. Add a mulch of compost at this point. You can also grow this plant in the soil underneath the patio by raising a paving stone or two. Once you have planted your crowns. Container-grown plants need to be fed fortnightly with a basic fertiliser. Stop taking spears in the third week of May and always make sure you allow the plant to grow out each year. Harvest Allow to grow for three years. It will start to die back by October and you can remove the growth at soil level. just to keep it warm until the summer. I have grown it in a purpose-built brick chamber. before harvesting in May
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. 2m by 1m/6ft by 3ft at a depth of around 2ft/60cm. allow the spears to grow so that the plant is very large. I have used an old chest freezer and an old corrugated washtub before now. Container-grown asparagus can work if you have a large space to work with. It can become a bit of an archaeological dig. deep container for growing asparagus on a patio. The important thing is to try to replace as much compost in the spring as you can without disturbing the plant. Remove growth at soil level in October.H OW
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You will need a large.

You do need a big container.
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. but their large leaves draw a lot of water from the container. They are heavy feeders and will need liquid feed fortnightly from May to August. The shoots will push through the soil and the plant will grow up to 2m. but once the globes have appeared. it’s huge and prefers some support. plant the tubers in large containers of compost. Plant a single tuber in a 40cm/18inch deep pot. I have grown them in a wheelie bin and the plant acted as a sail.
Jerusalem
These are not like Globe artichokes at all. The plant needs to be fed through the growing period from May to August with a fortnightly feed. the leaves change colour. You then feed it up by replacing compost at the top of the container with new rich compost. You can also introduce slow release fertiliser blocks to the soil.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING ARTICHOKES
Globe
This is a fun plant to grow on the patio. The tubers will be ﬁne in the pot until you need them. After about four years you need to replace the plants with new ones. Keep on top of the watering – they don’t want to be too damp. with a large leaf area. You will need to provide support – I tend to grow them against a wall or heavy-duty trellis. Buy them as plants from the nurseryman and plant them in loamy compost in April. and the whole shoot can be removed and composted. The secret is to grow them small. In September. cut them off and use them as a vegetable boiled whole. and the leaves can be composted. In April. Since the plant is large. They can be harvested from July to August and they will die back in autumn. with the wind dragging the whole lot down the patio. I use 50:50 compost and soil. it tends to dry out easily and so you need to be vigilant with water. in fact. instead of growing them for their individual ‘leaves’. they grow in the ground like potatoes and you can almost treat them as such. In the past.

pinch out the growing point. or the tip of the plant. This will force the plants to send out side shoots. Keep well watered and feed weekly with tomato fertiliser.. As I like to move them around. pushing the compost down to make a manageable shape. but make sure the night-time temperature is going to be above freezing. They are best sown indoors in April at around 18°C in trays and pricked out into individual 8cm/3 inch pots when large enough to handle. I tend to grow them one plant to a grow bag and stand this on its end. They need to be grown in a greenhouse or under a plastic cover/indoors. which will bear ﬂowers and consequently fruit. By the end of May they can be in their mini-greenhouses etc. Pot them on into 12cm/6 inch pots and then transfer to their growing position.H OW
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Artichoke at a glance
Variety Globe Jerusalem Pot size Large Large Sow/Plant April – outdoors April – outdoors Care Feed regularly and check water levels daily Feed fortnightly and check water levels daily Harvest July–August September
GROWING AUBERGINES
These plants can be treated more or less like tomatoes. In July. Harvest the fruits when they are shiny by cutting them off the plant with a sharp knife.
Aubergine at a glance
Pot size Medium – grow bags upturned on the side will work Sow/Plant April – indoors Care Feed weekly and water daily Harvest When fruits are large and shiny
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Start the seeds off as early as October if you have a cool greenhouse. On the allotment they grow in double rows to give each other support. you can fashion a small teepee by tying them at the top. You need to protect the young plants from the rigours of the frost as in containers the plants are damaged more easily than in the soil. You could upturn a grow bag as we have mentioned earlier. November for early-sown ones. or in the warm from March. I once inherited some large industrial containers which were 12 inch/30cm cubes. If you clump them together. but on the patio I grow them singly in 12 inch/30cm pots. But the big advantage of sowing in October is that the plants grow very quickly when the weather improves. The idea of sowing in October comes from allotment growing and on the patio is a little problematic.
Broad beans at a glance
Pot size Very small – paper or plastic Sow/Plant March Care Feed fortnightly and water moderately Harvest August
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. They stood together very easily and it was possible to line the far side of the patio with them. around three or four. discarding the weaker seedling. I tend to make newspaper pots for them and sow two seeds per pot. I had 20 of them. You can also grow them in old buckets – about the right size for a single plant. and add a cane to each pot. to which this vegetable is prone. The strong ones are then transferred directly to their ﬁnal growing positions in late April for late-sown ones. They set crop earlier and avoid the major infestation of blackﬂy. You can take the pods when very young if you are going to cook them like mangetout. growing broad beans.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING BROAD BEANS
I prefer to grow dwarf broad beans on the patio. but they broke over the years. Keep the plants moderately watered and feed once a fortnight. purely for space. When the ﬂowers come in June you are a couple of months from cropping which takes place as soon as the pods start to change colour.

I use a 50:50 mixture of compost and well-rotted manure.H OW
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GROWING FRENCH AND RUNNER BEANS
These need lots of organic matter for successful growing. keep them fed and watered. As the seedlings grow out of the bottles they will need to be watered and fed almost daily. Alternatively you can grow the plants in buckets or large pots. the leaves and stems can be used too. take the bottles outdoors and tie them to the base of a trellis or a teepee of canes. once the ﬂowers are on the plant you cannot really over water/feed them as long as the roots have good drainage. I tend to sow them in March. They are extremely prone to frost damage. opening the top of them by cutting across the lidded part of the bottle and adding four or ﬁve drainage holes. Take the fruit as soon as they thicken in July. I use a general purpose liquid feed when they are just growing. You need the large 4 litre bottles. keep watered and fed daily Harvest July
GROWING BEETROOT
This is one of the best plants to grow in a small space. the better they will crop. The more you pick them. changing to a tomato feed once the leaves appear. in which case they need to be watered and fed less. in pots and
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. though the bottle affords a good amount of protection.
French and runner beans at a glance
Pot size Medium – plastic milk bottles or buckets Sow/Plant February – indoors Care Take outside in May. keeping them indoors in February. Fill this with the compost mixture and then sow a seed in each. In essence. As fruit appears. They can be grown almost hydroponically in very large plastic milk bottles. Not only are the roots good to eat. so wrap in ﬂeece or bubble wrap if it is particularly cold. In May. perhaps a little earlier in comparison with the soil-grown types.

As the seedlings grow I thin them out by pulling up every other one. You can continue thinning until there is a hand-width between each plant. and then they can be allowed to grow to maturity. I make a scrape in the compost and sprinkle a number – goodness knows how many – of seeds into the compost and then cover over.P ATIO P RODUCE
containers of all sorts and then place them into a cold frame. 9.
Fig. I also sow wherever there is space for them from April onwards. For a successional crop. If they are in single pots or small containers feed them every couple of weeks and try not to let them dry out because they will then become woody. Pick the beetroots when they are between 2 inches/5cm in diameter. They are the easiest things to sow. repeat the sowing/thinning process every fortnight until mid-August. Beetroot
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. roughly cricket ball size. These can then be used in salads.

In the bottom of the pot put a layer of 1 inch (3cm) grit followed by a 3 inch (8cm) layer of 50:50 lime and compost. not so simple in pots and containers. you can transfer them to a cold frame for the daylight hours and bring indoors at night. a sheltered spot is essential. After this. but interestingly they are frequently ready more quickly on the patio. Harvest as the heads form. In March.H OW
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Beetroot at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant Late March–April Care Feed fortnightly and do not allow to dry out Harvest From July. The plant becomes quite leggy and lacks a lot of leaf when grown in pots. so to encourage healthy plants transplant them to 12 inch (30cm) pots while avoiding disturbing the roots. This is a process called hardening off. Plant one per pot and ﬁrm down the compost well. place 50:50 compost/good soil mixture to within 2 inches (5cm) from the top. You can sow in a seed tray and transplant to 3 inch/8cm pots and thence to their ﬁnal growing positions in April or May. You might ﬁnd the heads a bit looser – that’s one of the prices you pay for growing like this. Water to make sure the compost is mildly damp only – not too wet. Don’t let the plant get troubled by wind. Broccoli is a winter bearing plant – it takes quite a while for them to grow. things should be ﬁne. Feed fortnightly with some liquid feed and keep ﬁrming in. or when bulbs are 5cm in diameter
GROWING BROCCOLI
This is an easy plant to grow in soil. The roots like to be well ﬁrmed in and undisturbed. Sow seeds indoors in December.
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. but if you keep on ﬁrming.

drought. but normally you should take them as they heart up. will trigger the plant to explode into seed bearing. That said. never let the compost dry. but they are much more likely to produce ﬂowers and seeds.
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. The idea is to keep the frost off. but do not over-water. transplant carefully into 12 inches (30cm) when grown Sow/Plant December Care Feed fortnightly and ensure roots are well ﬁrmed in. Sow three or four seeds to a cup and remove all but the best-growing plants. If you want round-headed cabbages you are best growing them in soil in a bed in the garden or allotment. thinning down to six. Start sowing in March in a cool greenhouse/cold frame. You might get cabbage heads if you grow them individually in large pots. just different. Water with a ﬁne ﬁlm water spray. but not to worry too much about warmth. I grow in drinks cups for a little extra insulation. lack of minerals. Try to plant on the cabbages into 12 inch (30cm) or larger pots and feed them fortnightly as well as making sure they are watered. a process known as bolting or running to seed.P ATIO P RODUCE
Broccoli at a glance
Pot size Small. Stress of any sort. Water lightly. They are sown in a cup full of compost with a teaspoon of lime mixed in. Another good way of starting cabbage seedlings is to plant 12 seeds in a 2 litre ice cream tub. especially when the weather is warm. You can gather leaves whenever you need them. overcrowding. The cabbages are then removed from the tub by slicing the soil into segments. Harvest As soon as heads form
GROWING CABBAGE (SUMMER)
Cabbages are the oddest of all plants to grow in a pot or container. as if you were slicing a cake. they are perfectly edible.

They do not like root disturbance at all and so you need to keep them in wind-free areas. You can sow again in September. They will grow in any container that will house compost from drainpipes to grow bags. You can soak the paper and tear it to allow the roots access to the new compost. In particular. well ﬁrmed in. but sow them in paper pots which are then transferred to their ﬁnal growing positions. They can be sown outdoors every week from March to September and you will never want for another carrot. so you should be able to get an all-year round crop.
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GROWING CARROTS
The carrot is the mainstay of the patio vegetable garden because it grows quickly and easily. If you sow every three weeks from March with summer cabbage right through to the end of May with winter cabbage.
Cabbage at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant March–May Care Feed fortnightly and water frequently.H OW
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GROWING CABBAGE (AUTUMN)
Treat these as summer cabbages but sow them in late April to transfer into large pots or containers in May or June. They take much longer to mature and will be ready from September/October. Cabbages sown in August will provide an edible crop from December onwards. you should be able eventually to get cabbage available most weeks of the year. Harvest When plants heart up
GROWING CALABRESE
Treat as broccoli. they make a great edging plant and will grow happily in a grow bag turned onto its longest edge. Avoid stress of any type.

I bring mine into my cold plastic lean-to greenhouse on really bad nights. It ﬂies at an altitude of around 18 inches (45cm) and cannot get much higher. The heads will form and are best taken as soon as they are a couple of inches across and white. so carrots lifted off the ground are perfectly safe.P ATIO P RODUCE
Like beetroot. especially in warm conditions. The action of putting them against the wall of the house is frequently enough to keep them warm. Its presence varies according to locality. Feed them once every three weeks with liquid feed. They are best set in large 18 inch (45cm) pots and once set in place (in a sheltered but sunny spot). simply sow carrot seeds liberally and thin them out as they grow. Inter-sow carrots with other crops from spring onions to marigolds to disguise them from this pest. Once they get creamy they are past their best. feed every three weeks Harvest From late May
GROWING CAULIFLOWER
Treat these exactly as cabbages. a bit like broccoli. The only real problem with carrots is the carrot ﬂy which appears around late April to June. but will need some protection from the cold.
Carrots at a glance
Pot size Small and long Sow/Plant March–September Care Water regularly. The brassica family are all alike and you might ﬁnd the cauliﬂower heads being loose. Water them regularly. You should end up with carrots spaced at 4 inches (10cm) apart. Carrots sown in September will be still growing in November.
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. left alone apart from watering and feeding. eating the thinnings in salads or as a garnish. sowing and growing in the same way.

Be patient with germination and it should take about a month to get to this stage. Try to do this on a warm day if you can. Sow from February to April in compost at around 15°C (60°F) and prick out the plants when they are large enough into 3 inch (8cm) pots. They don’t like lower temperatures when being sown so if there is a cold spell. try to wait for a few days before sowing. celery. which should be removed. The plant grows into something that looks like a raggedy swede. Harvest When heads form up to 2 inches
GROWING CELERIAC
Celeriac is a simple enough plant that has a mild celery ﬂavour but quite a different texture. They can be harvested from September to the following spring. Avoid stress of any type.H OW
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Cauliﬂower at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant March–May Care Feed fortnightly and water frequently. once again. otherwise. It is easily grown and will produce a crop much more easily than its distant cousin. singly. Use well-rotted rich compost and the extra nutrients will keep the plant going. but it will put out branches and side shoots from time to time. They prefer constant conditions and a nutrient-rich soil. This also goes for transplanting young plants to their ﬁnal growing positions. you are eating what is basically a swollen stem. otherwise they have a tendency to run to seed. plant the seedlings into 12 inch (30cm) pots. When using celeriac. especially if they have been shocked. Keep the soil moist but not wet. In June. but it isn’t as tough. Cover them with ﬂeece or straw in the coldest months but otherwise they are quite hardy. they will go to seed.
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.

I use drinks cups with three seeds to a cup. when they weren’t transparent!) and slip around the stalks. Some people call this curing the stem but it isn’t the same as curing meat. Simply cut open a tube of plastic (I have used old washing up bottles.
Celeriac at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant February–April Care Use rich compost and keep moist. so remove the lower leaves. thinning to only the best grower. Then. You can bring your young plants outdoors from late April. Consequently. so long as the weather is reasonable. Keep the plants well watered. However. This is transplanted to the pots at the end of May. Take stalks when they are around 8 inches/20cm long.P ATIO P RODUCE
The stem needs to be exposed to the air. The trench is then ﬁlled with 33% well-rotted manure. Harvest September to March
GROWING CELERY
Generally any plant that produces a strong ﬂavour has a complex metabolism going on inside to create it. Celery can be blanched if you want really white stalks. They are the archetypal cut-and-comeagain plant.
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. I make up a manure/compost/soil mixture as above and ﬁll 12 inch/30cm pots. 33% compost and 33% soil. you need a lot of nutrients to achieve that ﬂavour. in containers and pots this is not possible. The seeds are sown indoors in March. and feed fortnightly with general purpose liquid feed. bringing them indoors at night until mid-May. keep them out all night. The exposure to the weather hardens the skin which in turn protects the stem. in the last week before transplanting. The traditional way to grow celery is to dig a trench at least 2ft (60cm) deep and line it for months before planting with kitchen waste. Ensure a constant temperature. like a little compost heap.

the plant is easy to grow. Fill a large container or an 18 inch (45cm) pot with a mixture of 10% grit and the rest an equal mixture of well-rotted manure and compost.
Chicory at a glance
Pot size Large Sow/Plant May Care Water frequently and blanch to reduce bitterness Harvest November
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Celery at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant Care Harvest March – indoors Feed fortnightly and water regularly When stalks are 8 inches tall
GROWING CHICORY
We miss out when we do not include chicory in our diet. Keep them in a sunny spot. though this is smaller than would be found in the garden or allotment. You can sow them again in different pots every fortnight until the end of June. and keep them well watered. The seeds should be thinned (as with most things partly grown. It doesn’t need to be bitter and anyone who has tried French coffee containing chicory. only to ﬁnd it too harsh should not be put off this lovely plant. and blanch them. by putting an upturned plant pot over them. thus reducing the bitter ﬂavour. Take the plants when the shoots are ﬁlling and a couple of inches tall. Make a drill 1 inch (2cm) deep that goes at least 2 inches (5cm) from the outer rim of the pot and sow the seeds thinly in May. you can eat the thinnings) to leave a plant every 6 inches (18cm). The small swollen shoots are brilliant boiled and then added to pasta dishes. and as a bonus.

so be patient. Firm down in the normal way. The courgette needs plenty of rich soil. Pot on progressively into 3 inch (8cm). They can be grown in large pots ﬁlled with a 50:50 mixture of well-rotted manure and compost. Transfer to a greenhouse in June or July and water every couple or three days. growing them on the patio does combat some of this. Sow chilli seeds between mid-February and mid-March.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING CHILLIES
In a way.
Chillies at a glance
Pot size Sow in trays. then 12 inch (30cm) pots. then 6 inch (16cm). The temperature should be maintained at above 21°C. Using trays that have been thoroughly wetted overnight. In late spring. sow very thinly. you can buy courgette plants or sow them from late
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. You need good multi-purpose compost but keep them free from soil. possibly early May. you should treat the growing of chillies as though they were tomatoes. Take when the chillies are ripe in August/September. so you are probably best using a propagator to start them off. feeding with tomato fertiliser at least twice a week. full of nutrients and moisture. Germination can take a long time. However. around 1 inch/2cm apart and cover with dry compost. then pot on as necessary Sow/Plant Mid-Feb–March Care Maintain temperature at 21°C Harvest August–September
GROWING COURGETTES
Courgettes are robust yet delicate and are heavy feeders that can easily catch a chill. They crop very heavily but are prone to fungal disease. Make sure there is plenty of light.

Plant them on into 8 in (20cm) pots and leave to ﬂower. needing plenty of water every couple of days. avoiding humidity Harvest When 5 inches long
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. water! Cut the fruit with a sharp knife when they are about 12cm (5 inches). water. but try not to wet the plant when you water. while at the same time. and move them to a sunny spot in June. The female ﬂower has a small courgette behind it. From May onwards. water. they are wonderful deep fried! The plants will now start to grow vigorously. Courgettes have two ﬂowers. Keep them near the house at ﬁrst.H OW
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March. Sow two seeds per 3 inch (8cm) pot of multi-purpose compost and prick out the worst growers. Take the male ﬂower and with it brush the insides of the female ﬂower with pollen. You can eat the ﬂowers afterwards. Don’t let them grow into monsters unless you like them stuffed.
Courgette at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant May Care Water every other day. as the ﬂavour is not improved. By June. again two per pot. They are usually pollinated by insects. the male none. so keep the humidity down. If the weather is bad in May. You can help the soil moisture by mulching. allowing the leaves to train over the side of the pot. thinning out the weaker one. one male and one female. but they can be helped. you can plant them into the prepared pots. which works very well). they can be left to the air. You can also sow seeds directly into the pots in May. This way you will soon have good setting fruit. Their only two major pests are slugs and a fungal infection. a cloche can be used (an upturned lemonade bottle placed over like a mini-greenhouse. Cover with a bottle cloche and then let them grow through to mid-June before leaving them to the elements. early April .

Cucumber at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant Late April Care Feed fortnightly and water frequently. In truth you will have to ﬁnd the method that suits you. Some sow in small pots indoors in February and
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. the plant will stop production. which needs to be a fairly large container. Once the plants get their true leaves you can pot them on to their ﬁnal growing position. and nothing looks nicer too! Sow 2 or 3 seeds per pot about an inch (2cm) deep. and in June move them to the sunniest spot you can ﬁnd. Leave in sunny spot Harvest As soon as they reach a good size
GROWING ENDIVE
There are as many ways of growing endive as there are gardeners. You can keep them indoors on a windowsill but they do just as well in a cold greenhouse or cold frame. Keep them well watered and feed them with tomato food at least once a week. You now treat the plant like courgettes. or a large grow bag per plant. and some people mulch them with straw. Discard all but the best growers and make sure you do not over water the plants. pick them as soon as they are useable.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING CUCUMBERS
Outdoor varieties are the best ones to grow on the patio because they are fairly easy and more robust. and you can tie the fruits loosely to the structure. Once the fruits are produced. From now on they like high heat and humidity. Fill 12 inch (30cm) pots with 50% compost and 50% soil and plant the young cucumbers into this. They are ideal plants to grow near a pond or water feature. If you let a cucumber mature. You can make a temporary plastic greenhouse around them by pushing canes into the edges of the pot and wrapping cling ﬁlm around this framework. They are best grown against a trellis for support. coping with all kinds of weather ﬂuctuations.

watered weekly. make sure the roots are secure. then thinning them to two plants per sink. but it is quite sufﬁcient for the patio. You can snip at the leaves and add them to soups and stews. When the bulb is about tennis ball size. I treat them as lettuce from then on. Keep sheltered. gather it up for roasting or boiling. or planters and even hanging baskets of good rich compost in May/June. This should give you about one plant every 12 inches (30cm). so whatever you do to them. They prefer a rich compost with some sand added and need to be fed once a fortnight. Others sow outdoors in May and then thin them out. which is a bit close compared with garden cultivation. feed fortnightly Harvest July–August
GROWING FENNEL
I sow this in an old sink in late May. or even with barbecue meals. The single point is that they do not like being disturbed about the roots.
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. I have tended to sow into paper pots in April indoors and then transferred the pots to larger ones. feeding them fortnightly with liquid feed and taking leaves as and when I need them. You can plant them almost anywhere as long as they are not in too windy a position.
Endive at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant April – indoors Care Do not disturb roots. only a few seeds per sink.H OW
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transplant these into their ﬁnal growing positions after hardening off in April.

but now it is being looked into again for its anti-bacterial. The soft neck varieties come in two forms. but for roasting you cannot beat the hard neck ones. Soft neck varieties are good for general cooking. Artichokes have grown out of the desire for having big corms. soft neck and hard neck. silverskin and artichoke. bulb when 2. not least of all because of its health beneﬁts and range of uses in cooking. but is difﬁcult to grow on the patio and doesn’t really do that well in the kitchen either. such as rocambole. During the First World War the government grew millions of tonnes of garlic to use as an antiseptic in ﬁeld hospitals. Most of what you buy from the supermarket is soft neck. which in reality is not all that helpful in the kitchen.5 inches May – outdoors Water weekly. and it seems to be good for blood pressure too. Research stopped into the wonderful properties of garlic when the so-called ‘wonder drug’ penicillin was discovered. anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. porcelain or purple stripe. Silverskins are the mainstay of the garlic growing in the garden and they do well in pots.
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. Hard neck varieties have bigger corms. This trend has culminated in the production of something called ‘Elephant garlic’ which is actually an imposter. It is a novelty. Garlic is found in two forms. feed once a fortnight
GROWING GARLIC
Garlic is the most useful plant in the garden. It has been beneﬁcial to humans since the dawn of time because its own immune system actually helps ours. less strong ﬂavour and often small bulbs around the stem. with papery leaves around the central stem.P ATIO P RODUCE
Fennel at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant Care Harvest Leaves when needed. It should really be called ‘Garlic ﬂavoured leek’.

Jack must have been a rather unwashed chap because you can smell it for miles. and it worked too. Simply break apart the corms and plant them into the container where they will grow to maturity. use a trowel. Treat it as the garlic version of chives. but remember that compost in a pot gets a lot colder than soil in the ground. It prefers to grow in dark wooded slopes that go down to the river. just giving very small corms! Garlic is best grown in around 6 in (18 cm) pots ﬁlled with compost. or Allium ursinum. It is best to plant garlic in October. where the soil is moist. From April until June give them a fortnightly feed with a liquid fertiliser and by August the leaves will start to become yellow and fall a little. It likes the cold. is otherwise known of as ‘Jack-by-the-hedge’. The colder it gets the better the ﬂavour. It is possible to grow garlic in containers of almost any size. Keep the pot in a sunny spot. I have grown it in polystyrene drink cups in the past. You can buy it these days. so protect them in really bad weather with ﬂeece or bubble wrap.H OW
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Wild garlic. Empty the pots by hand or if you have grown them in a container. Do not buy supermarket garlic for growing. to give it a chance to get established before the really cold weather. but make sure you get new stock from a nursery each year. Incorporate a handful of sand and another of very well rotted manure into the container to help with drainage and feed the growing plant. but keep it moist.
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. but needs to be growing already to get the full beneﬁt of a good freeze. but hates to be too damp (except wild garlic) so it is perfect for container growing. Garlic grows quickly in a good sunny position. chopping the whole plant into things such as omelettes.

with vines that can grow to nearly 4m. 10. they grow into a thick bush that reaches up to 3m tall. attractive bushes that will produce more berries as a result. use a free-draining potting compost with added vermiculite. that’s not too rich in nutrients (as this can make the seedlings grow leggy). and place in a
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.
Growing from seed
If growing from seed. If regularly pruned. goji berries are incredibly easy to cultivate. Garlic pots
Garlic at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant October–November Care Feed fortnightly. check water levels Harvest
July
GROWING GOJI BERRIES
Once established. Unchecked.P ATIO P RODUCE
Fig. they will form small.

leaving others to ripen. The young plants should not be moved outside in their ﬁrst year as they are not hardy. such as a windowsill (as long as it’s not too draughty). or if that’s not possible. In early summer the bushes will produce small. Both white and purple blooms can appear on one plant. You can eat them fresh.
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. Your young bushes will come as bare root plants with no leaves. The ﬂowers will continue to bloom right up until the ﬁrst frosts. delicate. and from four years you’ll start to get very heavy yields. check them regularly. Gently twist each berry off the vine.H OW
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well-lit position with a regular temperature. If planted straight away and watered well they will start to grow leaves within two–three weeks. It may take up to 24 hours for the berries to dry. where they should remain warm. Once they have germinated and developed around four ‘true’ leaves. Feed fortnightly with liquid fertiliser. so they provide visual interest before the berry production begins. place them in a single layer on a baking tray in an oven set to the lowest temperature setting possible. Keep them warm and spray occasionally to keep them moist until they germinate. but it’s recommended that you use a juicer for this job as it can be quite tricky otherwise. they’ll be ready when they are dry and crinkly. to avoid them rotting before they germinate. The ripe fruit are sweet and juicy and almost shiny in appearance. however. The berries will begin to set in autumn. as the plants are fully hardy and can be put out as soon as you buy them. They also make a fantastic juice. red and glossy looking. trumpet-shaped ﬂowers. gently transplant them into 3 inch/8cm pots and keep them in a well-lit position indoors for a year. Place into a 12 inch/30cm pot of good compost. FLOWERS AND FRUIT After two years the bushes will start to fruit. when they’re juicy. Water the compost before sowing the seeds. so your plants will be red. and are prone to frost damage. HARVESTING GOJI Harvest your goji berries when they are soft. GROWING FROM YOUNG PLANTS Buying young plants is far easier than growing from seed. After two years pot in to an 18 inch/45cm pot. To do this simply place them on a wire rack in full sun. or dry them. white and purple throughout late summer and autumn.

but will thrive in a fertile soil which contains plenty of organic matter. so adding compost or well-rotted manure prior to planting is recommended. but on the patio this needs some attention. The very best way to grow kale is to sow from April onwards in 12 inch (30cm) pots or their equivalent. boiling or using them in stir-fries. Leeks grow in a hole in the soil which is ﬁlled in by natural watering. Sow thinly and prick out slowly so by June you have only one plant per pot (don’t forget you can eat the thinnings). They prefer rich compost with some well-rotted manure and a tablespoon of lime mixed in per pot. feed every three weeks Harvest From September
GROWING LEEKS
Leeks are not fussy vegetables. so your yield is much higher. as kales are very hardy and easy to grow. Another bonus is that pigeons don’t seem to like them. Water regularly and feed at least once every three weeks.P ATIO P RODUCE
Goji at a glance
Pot size Large eventually Sow/Plant April Care Feed fortnightly Harvest September onwards
GROWING KALE
This brassica has become much more popular recently and rightly so.
Kale at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant April onwards Care Water day. You should stop sowing in August and from this you can get a crop right into winter.
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. steaming. You can pick the leaves in their baby stage for salads or leave them to grow to maturity.

the amount of room you can give your leeks will affect their ﬁnal size. You can grow them the whole year round and get a fresh lettuce every single day if you like. In exceptionally dry spells some watering is recommended. You can then put them in a mini greenhouse next to the wall of the house where they will grow happily. so long as you protect them from frost. a 12 inch (30cm) pot will do. An occasional liquid feed through the growing season will help to thicken the stems. (You can simply bring them indoors on very cold nights. Germination should take between 14–18 days. Do this when the plants are as big as your thumb. Once your leeks are about 20cm tall (this should take 2–3 months). water each one in gently.) Continue to sow indoors until May. Once all your leeks are in place.H OW
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Make a mixture of 50:50 soil and rich compost and ﬁll a sports bag or planter with it.
Leeks at a glance
Pot size Medium – one per pot Sow/Plant January – indoors Care Give room. To a certain degree. Leek seeds can be sown under cover indoors in January or February at a temperature of 15°C. but other than that you can just sit back and watch them grow.
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. but the more room you can give them the better. when you can start sowing on the patio. they can be transplanted into their ﬁnal positions. keep weeded and feed occasionally Harvest August
GROWING LETTUCE
Lettuce should be sprinkled all over the patio. sow them indoors and maintain a temperature of 10°C for them to germinate and grow. Alternatively. but stop feeding in August. Any old spare place you haven’t got a plant growing should be ﬁlled in with lettuces. All you need to do now is water the plants regularly and keep them well weeded. but slowly. Taking December as a starting point. in seed trays or module trays about 1–2cm deep.

which should be fairly often. Sow a lot in August and you should be able to keep them going until Christmas. For this reason they are better grown wherever you start them off. As the seedlings grow. Use the thinnings in a salad. They take nutrients and energy-rich sugars from dead and dying organic material to make their ﬁlaments and reproductive bodies. Transplanting lettuce is very difﬁcult. some in America have been shown to
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. You can continue their life by popping cut-down plastic lemonade bottles over the pots from September onwards. The roots get damaged in the process and they wilt off. From June onwards repeat sowing every two weeks until August when you should stop. They number the biggest organisms on the planet. you can reuse stuff used for a previous crop. thin them by pulling alternate ones out. The seed packets say stop in July but I never take their advice and have had brilliant crops in November. Make sure they do not dry out. Simply mark a groove in the soil or compost about 2cm deep and lightly sprinkle the seeds in place with a ﬁnger and thumb. The problem is that their leaves grow big but their roots are under-developed and this makes them problem plants to move.P ATIO P RODUCE
They will grow in any old compost. but try to water only the soil and not the leaves.
Lettuce at a glance
Pot size Large 18 inch/45cm – one per pot Sow/Plant April transplant in June Care Water and feed regularly Harvest When ripe – late August onwards
GROWING MUSHROOMS
Fungi are nature’s decomposers. I usually kill them with my thumb. and watch out for greenﬂy. When you water them. Cover and water the young seedlings and protect from slugs as much as you can. add a dilute (half what the manufacturer states) solution of liquid fertiliser.

You can mimic this process quite easily by using any source of manure – horse is good. Well. I have tried it in two different ways: the ﬁrst time I sterilised the compost with a kettle of boiling water. If you then tip this compost onto the compost heap the mushrooms will come again from the rotting compost! It can take anything from between a couple of weeks to a couple of months for the mushrooms to appear. As long as you are sure the material is well composted. you should have no problems. Use a large bucket. Our beneﬁt from fungi is not only from the mushroom but also the fact that mountains of dead things would pile up if there were no fungi to rot them. In the vegetable garden. dark sheds. More interestingly. When you ﬁrst grow mushrooms you begin to wonder if growing food from composted manure can be right. If you prefer. all the brassicas do better if they are infected with certain fungi. you can get kits that use fresh straw as a basic for growing mushrooms. or chicken or specially-prepared mixtures along with a mushroom growing kit. The bits we eat are tiny in comparison with the size of the mushroom. largely depending on the temperature. You can expect about 3kg/6[lb of mushrooms that come in waves of around 1kg/2. Add the composted material and then sprinkle the spores on top.
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. even in patio-grown specimens. fungi invade plants and actually help them to grow. But. Water and keep it next to the wall of the house. In this way you will have no issues regarding eating food made from rotting material. when you have a plate of bacon and eggs. If you do this in June you will have no problems with temperature.
Sowing whitecap mushrooms in manure
For years. the thing that makes it perfect (for me at least) is a mushroom.2lb each time. mushroom growers used chicken manure to grow mushrooms in long. maybe with a tomato and a fried slice of bread.H OW
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spread through the soil over an area of many miles and if you could pull them out of the ground intact would weigh many hundreds of tonnes. or a plastic toy box about 2ft/60cm square. but I also did it without and there was no appreciable difference.

that’s ﬁne. Once the ﬁrst bloom of mushrooms has gone away you can get another by re-soaking in cold water and starting again. You can buy them as ready-made logs. Take the mushrooms when they are young. Many bracket fungi are poisonous. Alternatively. you can infect your own logs with little plugs that you push into drilled holes. you need to be sure that your log is fresh and not already infected by stray fungi. This can be either by leaving in the cold outside. A few days of cold is all you need then the straw can be left on a tray or a plastic box in a reasonably warm spot – anything over 10°C. Make sure the straw is kept moist and it will take anything up to a couple of weeks to appear. Some people simply ﬁll a bin bag with straw and inoculate this. The problem with dead wood is that a lot of fungi can break down the lignin in the wood. which you keep as moist and warm as possible – perhaps in the greenhouse or plastic lean-to. but it actually roughly translates as tree mushroom. keeping it warm and moist. As this is the basic food source. and make them about 3ft/1m long. birch logs are best. You drill the appropriate holes in the wood to take the
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. Choose logs that are about 8 inches/20cm across. so if you have a small greenhouse or cold frame that is easy to keep warm. After the second bloom you can compost the material. or by popping in a fridge if you have opted for a bag (a small bag at that).
Shiitake mushrooms
I was never really happy with eating something with such a ridiculous name. SHOCKING After inoculation the oyster mushrooms need to be shocked. This type of fungus is applied in little dowels which are already infected with the mycelium. so you need to be sure you are growing only the right ones. Some say to sterilise the straw with boiling water ﬁrst and then inoculate the straw with the spores.P ATIO P RODUCE
Oyster mushrooms
Oyster mushrooms are easy to grow and can be produced from a bale of straw.

well ventilated and then to transplant them to their growing positions in compost that has had a chance to warm up. others simply leave them in a shady area of the patio where little else will grow. The logs should be kept in a shady. Prepare by mixing some compost. The more leaves. It can take up to a year for the log to start decomposing properly. Keep the plants at around 4–6 inches (10–18cm) apart. which gives the plants a chance to get established by April so they can be transplanted. but there is plenty of time to get them going in January. doors or window frames with the spores.H OW
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dowel and then tap it home.
GROWING ONIONS
If you are sowing indoors. Simply push them in compost in March or April and leave them to grow. some bury them for a while. Make sure everything is painted properly.
Onion sets
You can buy onions already pre-grown to the size of a button. I ﬁnd it best to use a ﬁnger to
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. the larger the onion. keep the temperature at around 20°C and use moist compost in plastic modules. You might get as many as 30 dowels into a log. Some people keep them in dustbin bags. The traditional time for sowing onions indoors is Christmas Day. With all wood-decomposing fungi you have to be sure that you are not going to infect your house. some ashes if you have them (about 20%) and some sand – a couple of handsful per container. The reason for sowing early is that the onion size is directly related to the number of leaves it produces. In fact there is not much chance of you having problems if you collect the mushrooms reasonably quickly. Simply use a pencil to make a hole and then carefully drop the onion in place – ﬁrming with the ﬁngers. The idea is to keep the seedlings warm. moist but not wet area where they can be allowed to decompose. The compost in large containers (I use old washing up bowls or similar sized receptacles) can be heated by bringing it indoors. Some kits provide wax to seal the dowels once they have been tapped home.

Just because an onion hasn’t bulbed well (which is sometimes the case growing on the patio) it doesn’t mean you cannot chop it up. This is a process known as curing. Otherwise. Give them a liquid feed fortnightly and keep watered. The point is that you can change how you think about your produce. Overwintered onions will not keep as well as summer ones because of the ravages of the climate.
A note about harvesting onions
I take onions at any stage of their development. If you plant onions in spring they will be ready in late summer. the roots push the set out of the pot. Japanese onions are best bought as sets and planted as above in August. early January Care Water every other day. in which the outer leaves become leathery and the inner few dry a little. and use it in your cooking. They are completely hardy and get better
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. The more the plant produces. the larger the eventual onion. Leave your onions to bask in the sunshine once you have harvested them. Much depends on the weather as to their ripeness. Sometimes I take onions and use them as spring onions even though they would bulb up if they were left. the aromatic ﬂavour is superb and is enhanced when roasted.
Onion at a glance
Pot size Large Sow/Plant Late December. too cold and they will be small. so try to keep them sheltered if you can. thus protecting the centre. feed fornightly Harvest When needed
GROWING PARSNIPS
This plant has to be my one weakness. The only problem is that it takes a full year for the plant to make the chemicals that give it the distinctive ﬂavour.P ATIO P RODUCE
make a little hole ﬁrst and then force the little bulb into this. leaves and all. when the bulb bursts into life.

Parsnip at a glance
Pot size Large Sow/Plant March Care Water regularly. If you leave them for a week to dry out and then suddenly give them a lot of water. Water regularly. You can sow parsnips anytime. feed with liquid feed every three weeks Harvest After one year
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. it doesn’t really matter if you sow some more later in the spring and even in the summer. but don’t tell the wife! Unfortunately. I do add a handful of lime (wear gloves for this) and mix well. You can keep the seed. I do not enrich the compost but choose to feed the plants with liquid fertiliser later in the season. Parsnips grow roots one year then seed the next. it will make the root split. Don’t be tempted to start them in pots and transplant them – they just end up being all mangled up and grow into grotesque shapes. too. Treat the plant as carrots in relation to the carrot ﬂy. and feed once every three weeks until the end of September. which likes parsnips as well as it does carrots. You need to give them a good frosting for best results and I have even used the freezer to cool them. they are a little like carrots in that stones and excess nitrates make the taproots divide up or grow into strange and impossible shapes. It is worth keeping a few to grow out because the ﬂower umbrels are glorious to look at. I like to use grow bags that are upturned and have been used once for something else. Since the parsnip has such a long growing period. Germination takes a long time so be patient and thin out to three plants per grow bag. as long as the pots and containers are not actually freezing. They grow slowly. never let the plant dry out but don’t drown them. to plant next season. making a great display indoors in a vase.H OW
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as the winter gets colder. Try to sow early in March. but persevere with them and your patience will be rewarded.

say six or seven evenly spaced and thin to four plants once they are growing. so if you get them in the compost in March they will be ready by
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. taking them into the kitchen and cooking them. You can sow them in a chopped up gutter placed horizontally and ﬁlled with compost. and you don’t really need that on the patio. April-sown plants will be ready by June/July depending on the weather. Potatoes come in groups depending on how long they take to grow. so the sooner you can start them in the early spring the better. or failing that mange-tout. Plants sown in August should be in movable pots so you can bring them nearer the warm building or even into a cold frame. The best thing to do is pop them into a 12 inch (30cm) pot. First Earlies grow in around 12 weeks. They do not need particularly rich compost. in October. and you could have peas. feed once per month Harvest August
GROWING POTATOES
There is nothing so wonderful as emptying your bin of spuds. small sticks or canes will do. ﬂower and ﬁnally fruit.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING PEAS
You can have more fun growing peas on the patio than any other crop. You might provide supports. You can sow every couple of weeks from April right through to August. Fix this against a wall and in this way have rows of peas at about 2ft high for as long as you wish. then water regularly through the season and feed monthly. They simply grow. just enough to get them going. as they will grow anywhere especially the dwarf varieties. It is akin to frying your ﬁrst hen’s egg! Potatoes need anything from 12 weeks to 25 weeks to develop. The more you feed them the bigger they grow.
Peas at a glance
Pot size Small but deep Sow/Plant April Care Water regularly.

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. the tuber will become all soft and springy and as soon as the buds (also referred to as eyes) ‘taste’ sugar. a source of a lot of discussion with growers. On the patio make a mixture of 50% compost and 50% well rotted manure (which is even worse than the allotment plot. Nor should you use potatoes from the supermarket. you will be disappointed. and what a wonderful ﬁrst salad they make too! Skin quality is what makes the potato tubers develop and stop swelling. Don’t try to grow early potatoes for 25 weeks. The additional cost of seed potatoes is worth the expense. they burst into life. It is important you grow for the appropriate length of time.
Type of potato First Earlies Second Earlies Maincrop
When to plant March Late March Mid-April
Cropping 12 Weeks 17th March is the traditional time. This makes for an excellent growing medium for spuds. so you can imagine it takes a lot longer for a huge roasting or baking potato to grow than a tiny salad potato. but needed for growing in containers. Enzymes inside the tuber will turn the starch into sugar. Similarly. maincrop potatoes will not be anything like right to eat as salad potatoes if allowed to grow for only 12 weeks. 17 Weeks 20–25 Weeks
How to grow potatoes
Potatoes need lots of organic material in the soil because it is a thirsty plant that prefers to get its water from the soil rather than from the tap. Do not save potatoes from last year but buy new ‘seed’ potatoes each year.H OW
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the end of May. On the allotment the soil is normally enriched with lots of well rotted manure. If you leave the tubers in a light airy position they will change.)Then add half as much again of soil. CHITTING This is a mysterious process. (Frankly too much is often used!). This change is called chitting. which often cause the most disappointment.

cover it with more straw and a layer of compost. which will at best give you a tummy upset – at worst make you quite ill. These tubers frequently appear at the surface also. On top of this put a ring of straw around 2ft (60cm) deep and place a seed tuber in the centre. As the plants grow they will soon appear out of the soil and at the roots tubers will form. You can hang this bag anywhere ( I used the washing line once) and you will get a crop if you water and feed regularly. When the plant grows out of the bag. soil or compost ﬁlled structure about 12in (30 cm) deep. made as above. Build up the straw and compost until the potato plant is looking strong. You could also put a door in a wheelie bin as mentioned in Chapter 3. Build a sandpit. about two feet high. As the potato grows. This is a fun way of growing spuds. Remember that there is no soil water getting to the plant. so keep a careful eye on the plant in case it starts to wilt. Sprinkle compost mixture up around the stems so that the tubers remain snug under the surface. it is a process they will go through under the ground anyway. Method 3: A plastic bag This works best with Earlies. but recent research has shown they do not beneﬁt that much. The truth is that chitted potatoes might not keep so well after harvest and after all. Potatoes exposed to light become green and consequently contain a high level of alkenes. Then ﬁll with compost and pierce the bag for drainage.
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. In this put two potatoes. Method 2: Straw You can grow potatoes on the surface by growing in straw. Cover with straw and douse with water. and water if necessary.P ATIO P RODUCE
Old gardeners used to think the chitting of potatoes gave them a head start. up to ] of the height. Put the lid on. Simply put a tuber in a plastic bag which had a folded bin liner inside it to keep out the light. From then on add compost around the outside of the plant until it becomes impractical. PLANTING POTATOES Method 1: The dustbin Fill a dustbin with compost. buried under the surface. close the neck up a little to keep it under control.

Plant the tuber in the centre and cover. Water weekly.
Harvesting
Remove the vine and do not compost it before tipping the contents of the container onto newspaper. add more compost and.
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Diseases
Potatoes get more diseases than almost anything else in the garden. and once a fortnight give them a liquid feed. another lined-tyre. Alternatively you can simply leave them and scrape them out as you need them. but in containers this is hard to achieve (watch your eyes!). in late August or September. you can stop watering them. watch your back. If you use the Pentland series of potato varieties and keep them watered and fed fortnightly with liquid feed. Containers are a different matter because there is no soil borne water. If you have grown in a big container. from which you can pick out the tubers. but in warm weather you might need to water every other day.
Potato care
In the garden soil. ﬁrming down well. when needed. this is devastating and you need to look out for black spots following rain in a hot spell. to a maximum of four. potatoes will not need watering unless there is a real drought.H OW
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Method 4: A pile of tyres Start with two tyres and place a bin liner in the holes in the centre. Keep your eye on them and only water at the base of the plant. you will get the best part of half a tonne of potatoes in this bag. Blight – As already discussed. this is important because there can be dangerous chemicals in the rubber of the tyres which can leach out into your compost. it can get very heavy! You can lift potatoes with forks. having removed the vine beforehand. As the plant grows taller. Scab – Little brown scabs are no real problem and can be peeled away – don’t compost these peelings. A week before harvesting. Method 5: A rubble bag This is planting the tubers into a rubble bag – a great big bag that is used to deliver stones. Fill it three quarters full with soil and rich rotted manure and plant only three tubers in it – maybe only two. Fill this with compost. They should never be too wet.

sometimes warty leaves. Their major problem is the speed of growth. They add quite a kick to salads and if left in the fridge. they will germinate in almost any soil and grow well in almost any temperature. You can sow them in November if you protect them with a cloche. microscopic worms that eat away at the potato. The older leaves are no good in the kitchen. which is fairly obvious since most of them are red. In either case. this means growing them in a pot with an upturned cut-down plastic lemonade bottle over them.
Potatoes at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant March–April Care Water regularly. Ball radishes used to be called summer radish. This makes them an ideal plant for September growing because the days are frequently clear. for no apparent reason because they are just as good grown in spring and autumn. Wireworm – If you grow potatoes in soil that once had grass on it you are likely to get the larva of the click beetle eating into your tubers. feed once per month Harvest See previous table
GROWING RADISH
The name ‘radish’ comes from the Anglo Saxon for red. For me. but are completely wonderful when young. They grow in cool places that have full sun. which is a bit of a paradox. But you do get green ones and others that are all white. The roots obtain their shape quickly. either ball shaped or cylindrical. a crunch too.P ATIO P RODUCE
Eelworms – Horrid soupy tubers that sometimes smell are caused by eelworms.
Plants grow to around 30cm in height with large. If you leave them for a couple of weeks they
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. that are lime green in colour.

particularly if you can keep them out of the pouring rain. Each spring. Those you have taken to make room for the others can be eaten. make sure your soil is well fed and water retaining. You are better growing bolt free varieties (‘Boltardy’ is one) and give them a frost free spot once germinated. The best way of countering this is to sow every two weeks and keep on collecting them once mature. The problem is if it is allowed to stand in water for any length of time it will succumb to fungal infection. Winter grown radishes have horrible tasting leaves. they are much too good to waste! Harvest them when the root is an inch or larger in diameter.
Radish at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant From April onwards Care Water regularly. As the seeds germinate (you should expect near 100% success) the leaves will peep out of the soil and you can take every other plant in the row to ensure a decent sized crop. feed every three weeks Harvest August onwards
GROWING RHUBARB
Rhubarb is a brilliant grower and will crop for years so long as the compost is free draining. which has plenty of nutrients.
Sowing in winter
Radishes do well sown in winter. enrich the compost by replacing some of it in the pot with a good few spades of well-rotted manure.H OW
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can quickly become too large and ﬁbrous. I grow them in a mini greenhouse to give me a crop in December. You need an 18in (45cm) pot that is at least 2ft (60cm) deep. Put broken crockery in the bottom and then sand to a depth of 3in (8cm). so don’t bother! Like carrots. making them difﬁcult to pick out of the teeth. The amazing cocktail of ﬂavours comes at the expense of a lot of nutrients – rhubarb is a very hungry plant. They are ﬁne under a cloche. Mix 50% compost and 50% well-rotted manure and throw a handful of grit in.
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New rhubarb takes a good season’s growth before it is ready for harvesting but from then on the plant will give plenty of crops year in year out. It happens in huge sheds in South Yorkshire. and that’s all. Place a large ceramic pot over your container and put a pebble over the draining hole because even this small amount of light will spoil the process.
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Forcing
Forcing is when you make the stalks grow quickly in the dark. Rhubarb is an easy-care plant in the soil.P ATIO P RODUCE
You can grow rhubarb from seed. more difﬁcult in a pot. Harvest by cutting the stalks at the base. Leaving the plant in the dark for too long will eventually kill it. and by the time May has arrived leave the plant alone. do not pull from a container because you are likely to lift the plant. but do not take all the stems. and you should be careful not to let this plant wilt. The most common way of obtaining rhubarb is by getting a crown from a friend or garden centre. it is a little time consuming and you have to wait for a crop. Once a fortnight give it a liquid feed. Large leaves always equate to a thirsty plant. It is a rhizome obtained by splitting an old plant into many parts. Transplant the seedlings to their ﬁnal containers. Take stalks that are an inch thick from April to May. Treat it exactly as if it were a seedling. The quick growth of the stalks is at the expense of the food resources in the plant. but you can do the same. Simply bury the whole thing in compost and wait for it to push through the compost. The large leaves draw a lot of water and so you have to water it almost daily during the summer. You are best growing a lot of plants. but not wet. In February sow seeds in pots of compost indoors and by May it should have grown into an established plant. It needs a good drink. having them in various containers and not taking too many stalks from each. which should be a large one around 2ft (60cm) in diameter in late May and keep watered. The following May you may take one or two stalks per plant and then feed with rich compost.

The lack of oxygen at root level is one of the limiting factors to its growth and it should be possible to get specimens at least as good as wild plants because your patio is much kinder than an estuary. In the wild it grows in all kinds of soils.
Plant care
Samphire is quite hardy. so the leaves shrink to small scales to reduce transpiration. despite being soaked with saltwater twice a day for many hours. It’s a short plant. Thankfully it’s easy to grow. growing in estuaries around the world. The seeds germinate well in moist compost. but it’s rare that estuaries are frosted. best started indoors in spring. swollen stems that branch in a way reminiscent of other succulent plants such as cacti. Remember that in the wild it’s covered with cold salty water twice a day.H OW
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Rhubarb at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant February Care Water regularly. the plant can’t afford to dry out. Already under pressure from salty water. often muddy. with fat. You will need to protect plants from frosts if you want uniformly green shoots. The plant won’t be destroyed completely but won’t look very appetising after a few nights at 94!
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. The best way to buy samphire is as a plant and pot on to larger growing pots. rarely over 30cm high. It has adaptations that allow it to accumulate pure water inside its stems. feed fortnightly Harvest August
GROWING SAMPHIRE
Salicornia europea is a common plant. in 12 inch/30cm pots. Our estuaries can’t keep pace. Samphire is said to be so popular just now that half a million servings will be taken over the next 12 months. It’s best to grow this plant in any old compost.

you treat these plants like onions.P ATIO P RODUCE
It prefers dampish compost and you’ll have to replicate the estuarine environment by watering with salty water! To do this you need 30g of salt per litre of water – try not to use salt that has anti-caking agents in it. A single shallot set pushed into a container will give you seven others by the end of the summer. like onion sets. Shallots are like small onions and are distinguished by their kick! Pickled shallots are the very best pickles you will ﬁnd – and go perfectly with the strongest Cheddar cheese and maybe a pint of beer!
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. Simply trim off enough stems for a meal and leave the plant alone for a month to recover. around 12 inches (30cm) across and 10 inches (25cm) deep.
Harvesting
This is best done as a cut-and-come-again crop. and avoid extra-added iodine – and don’t let the plants dry out. Feed every six weeks with general-purpose fertiliser liquid. I use ring culture pots. which are designed for growing tomatoes with the hole in the bottom all taped up. You can plant them any time between February and April and harvest them from July onwards. With half a dozen plants you should have enough to keep you in samphire as long as you don’t eat it all the time!
Samphire at a glance
Pot size Medium 12 inch/30cm Sow/Plant March/April Care Water with salt water Harvest As needed
GROWING SHALLOTS
In essence. Make sure they are ﬁrmly patted in and not pushed up by their roots. By far the most common way of growing them is to buy sets and push them into a container.

They grow easily in any kind of compost but in the ﬁrst weeks they need extra feed. leaving a single plant per hand-span in large containers. Sow them indoors in December and then outdoors from March/April.
Spinach at a glance
Pot size Small Sow/Plant December – indoors Care Check water levels Harvest June
GROWING SWEDES
Swedes are wonderful plants. They are also like a cabbage with a thick root and if you cook a cabbage root you’ll see the resemblance.
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Shallots at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant February Care Water every other day. Water and wait. It accumulates nitrates to a dangerous level and consequently I grow it only on spent compost. Apart from that there is nothing to do. The plants are useable as soon as the leaves appear. but leave to mature – which is about 20 weeks from sowing. They HATE their roots being messed about with and because of this they are difﬁcult to transplant. it’s easy! Simply ﬁll any old container (lots of them) with compost and sprinkle the seeds in. or one plant per 6 inches (15cm) pot. You can thin the seedlings. they are packed with sugar yet to taste them you wouldn’t imagine so. feed fortnightly Harvest July
GROWING SPINACH
This is one of those plants you shouldn’t over feed. Spent compost is compost that has been used to grow a previous crop and is therefore lower in nutrients.

You can grow them in plugs indoors in late March and then plant the whole plug without disturbing the roots into a 12 inch (30cm) pot of compost. Apart from greenﬂy and cabbage root ﬂy they do not really have any problems. enriched with a handful of rotted manure. and can have a tendency to bolt to seed. Once you have got it going. Harvest them when the roots swell to a ball. They are expensive to buy. Do not try to transplant them in any other way. It needs a deep container for the roots to do well and after a lot of practice. The room should be at 20°C and the plants should be reasonably moist but not wet to avoid damping off. I ﬁnally settled on kitchen waste bins. around the size of a large turnip. Planting out is a difﬁcult thing. so it is no surprise they take longer to mature. Plant two seeds in a paper pot in April and thin them to a single plant by removing the slowest growers. so the cobs can develop. It is probably best to take them when they are smaller than you would ﬁnd in the shops.P ATIO P RODUCE
Swedes are longer in the ground than turnips and have a lot of structural tissue to build. Once they have germinated. In pots they never reach their full potential. keep them a couple of degrees cooler and in a sunny spot as the plants will need lots of light for strong growth.
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. even though it can be a little unpredictable. If you can protect your plants from the cold then you are much nearer to getting a decent crop. it is fairly easy to grow. it never works! Feed them fortnightly when watering through the summer.
Swede at a glance
Pot size Plugs Sow/Plant March Care Feed fortnightly through summer Harvest September
GROWING SWEETCORN
Sweetcorn is easy to grow as long as the summer is long and warm.

We get all hung up about them needing to be kept hot that we forget that the best tomatoes in the world are grown high in the Italian Alps where the average summertime temperature is fairly cool. you can get a few quite reasonably. 20% well-rotted manure and the rest soil with a bit of grit thrown in. Normally the plants need hardening off. Plant your sweetcorn in several pots and bunch them together to aid pollination by the wind. To check for ripeness. this will turn dark as the cob ripens. and really exciting for the new grower. If the liquid that is emerges is milky. Each cob will have a silk still attached to the top. Water frequently. but if you plant them so they don’t rise above the lip of the container you can cover it with cling ﬁlm for a few days once they are bedded in. Tomatoes grown on the patio are almost always full of ﬂavour. They should be grown in a mixture of 50% compost.
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. feed fortnightly during the summer. pull back a couple of leaves and puncture one of the yellow kernels with your ﬁngernail. feed fortnightly during summer Harvest August
GROWING TOMATOES
Tomatoes are one of those plants everyone should grow.H OW
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but if you don’t mind collecting them from neighbours and so on. Block planting is the best way of obtaining optimum pollination.
Sweetcorn at a glance
Pot size Medium – very deep Sow/Plant April Care Water regularly. the cob is ripe. By late summer each of your plants should have one or two cobs. Each sweetcorn plant has tassels at the top (the male part) and cobs (female) with ‘silks’ lower down the stem.

Side shoots
The plant will produce side shoots (branches that come from the leaf nodes of the main vine). Three per plant gives bigger tomatoes but you will not get the maximum yield. increasing the humidity in the plastic covered shelving unit or greenhouse. so make sure this is done early. Water the plants well. This acclimatises them to their new positions. then I use them both. By the end of May.P ATIO P RODUCE
Sow seeds indoors from March to April. take a fortnight over this stage. you can plant them in ring culture pots in a bed. Too much water at the early stage can promote fungal infections. bringing them back in the evening. get watering and feeding. but if you are really keen. I use large garden canes ﬁrmed deep in the compost. Transplant the seedlings once they are ready for handling into 8cm (3in) pots. If they are going into a mini greenhouse move the pots outside during the day. After a few weeks you will be amazed by the ﬁrst truss. I have successfully grown them in the plastic-covered shelving units (three of them along the wall) which hold two plants. I then prick out the weakest one. water carefully every day. in February in a propagator at 20°C. If you have a small greenhouse available. Cut these out. Use good quality John Innes 1 compost in modules or seed trays. For me this has tended to be grow-bags.
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. spaced 40cm apart and supported from the outset. keeping the compost slightly moist – but do not over water. Keep supporting the plants as they grow by loosely tying them to the cane or support. If you have room for a larger greenhouse then simply transplant them directly into their ﬁnal position. The ubiquitous drinks cups are superb for the task and I sow 2 seeds per pot. Humidity means fungal infection. mostly as the plant will grow like a bush. unless it looks quite strong. it is time to put the plants into their ﬁnal growing place. If the weather is hot. don’t splash it about! Add some tomato feed to the water twice a week. If they are to go outside. You will have to decide how many trusses you want from your plants. This is a ﬂowering branch – and once you see this. Four or ﬁve is the norm. Once the plants have reached a hand-span high you can put them in their ﬁnal growing positions.

As usual. Plant them in 12 inch (30cm) pots (or even 18 inch (45cm)) and put them in the warmest part of the patio from June onwards. This gas is given off by ripe fruit and triggers the ripening process.
Harvesting
Ripening of tomatoes is controlled by the gaseous plant hormone ethylene.H OW
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but you can get as many as seven or eight if you have room to grow such a tall plant. The turnips are taken when they are tennis ball size. They will not grow so large and produce fewer fruits.
Outdoor tomatoes
I always grow the variety ‘Moneymaker’ because they do just as well outdoors as indoors. I have sown a single line of turnip seeds as though they were carrots. pick the rest and make chutney with the green ones. by the end of March. The way to control the number of trusses is to pinch out the highest growing point. so there are plants spaced at 4 inches (10cm). The remaining plants are watered regularly and fed once a fortnight. I have a window box which is ﬁlled with rich compost and.5cm) deep. I prefer to pick any red ones and then. thin them out progressively over the next month. This is why you sometimes see a ripe banana hanging inside a greenhouse. Water them well. eat the thinnings. Within a week or so they will be pushing through the compost and at this point. by the end of September. about 1 inch (2.
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. I never do this because I don’t wish to introduce any rotting material into my warm spaces. water regularly and add tomato feed twice per week Harvest When ripe – August
GROWING TURNIPS
These are easy and brilliant to grow on the patio.
Tomatoes at a glance
Pot size Growbags Sow/Plant March Care Once established. but are well worth the effort.

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You can repeatedly sow turnips every couple of weeks until August and still get a brilliant crop in November. The whole year is almost completely punctuated by turnips!

Turnips at a glance
Pot size Window box Sow/Plant March Care Water regularly, feed once a fortnight Harvest July

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CHAPTER 6

HOW TO GROW FRUIT ON THE PATIO

Fruit is the most popular thing to grow on the patio, from a trained cherry tree to a hanging basket ﬁlled with strawberries. There is a couple of rules: plant fruit trees when they have no leaves on them, and ensure you get to your fruit before the birds do! There now follows a comprehensive guide to the patio growing of fruit.

GROWING APPLES
You can ﬁnd an apple to suit you, as there are so many varieties. It is best to plant established trees, as planting pips not only takes years before you get a crop, but also, as all trees are grafted, it is difﬁcult to know what type of fruit you will get in the end. They come in four varieties: cookers, eaters, crab (for making jelly and wine for the brave), and cider apples. Cider apples are medium sweet, cooking apples are less sweet. Crab apples can be very bitter and need a lot of sugar adding to them, but are very rich in pectin for making jelly; and of course, eating apples are completely, deliciously sweet. Some older varieties are not self-fertile, and you need more than one tree. Modern varieties (those younger than around 80 years old) are self-fertile and therefore perfect for small spaces. You can buy apple trees on dwarﬁng rootstocks so they ﬁt on the patio
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easily and they tend to grow very straight. You can also grow them against a wall trained on wires by pruning back growth in the wrong plane.

How to buy apples
Most nurseries sell by mail order and most garden centres keep a reasonable stock of ﬁve or six varieties from the same nurseries that you can buy from direct. Look for a sturdy, well-pruned plant that is at least a year old. All, except the most dwarfed trees, will be around four to 5ft tall. In the winter months, from November onwards they will be bare rooted (available to buy with no soil clinging to the roots). In the spring and summer they will be sold in pots. Before you buy by mail order, ask about how they will be delivered, their quality and what special requirements they might have.

Planting
You should plant apple trees when they have no leaves on the branches. Patio apples need a 45cm pot of which the bottom few centimetres are ﬁlled with broken crockery for drainage. Use good-quality compost and mix it with ordinary soil. Soil alone will do but is more troublesome to remove in scoops in the spring, when it needs to be replaced with fresh, nutrient-rich compost. Two problems with patio apples (though easily overcome) are ﬁrst, that they blow over easily (so make sure they are sheltered or tied down) and second, they dry out easily, so water them diligently. Extra watering leaches nutrients so you will have to feed a little more too, around once a month with general purpose liquid feed. I have two apples planted into a framework that has no bottom, but stands directly on the patio ﬂoor. It is around 2ft/60cm deep and is ﬁlled with compost.

Care
In the spring, make sure the plant is watered, but don’t panic if none of the buds bursts forth until late spring. You may ﬁnd ﬂowers will drop, fruit may drop, the plant may take a whole year to establish, and there might not be much in the way of fruit for the ﬁrst three years, but don’t panic! If you feed and care for it in the early stages, your apple tree will be fruitful for the next twenty.
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( The ﬁrst thing to do is cut away all dead. Look carefully and cut out the vertical branches. ( Find the central branch and prune other branches near to it right to the bottom.
Pruning
The pyramid method The idea with the pyramid method is to make the central stem of the plant lower in height than the lower branches. or diseased branches. 11.
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Fig. Apple tree
In the spring. broken. keeping just the horizontal ones and those that. ( Take away any branches that come from the base of the plant. Cut away branches that cross each other or that grow near other branches. when full of leaves. will cause a lot of shading. take some of the compost away from the top of the plant and replace it with fresh.

the tree will shed excess fruit. which makes them even easier to grow outside. the length of the side shoots should be reduced by a third. Cup the apple in your palm and twist it once. drill two lines of vertical holes at 12 inch (30cm) intervals and screw hoops or hooks into them. ( Prune the central branch to the level of the top wire and any remaining convenient branches should be moved (trained) to the wires and tied in so that branches are now growing along the length of the wires in a single plane.P ATIO P RODUCE
ESPALIER OR WIRE TRAINED ( In your wall. apricots should be planted as trees.
Harvest
It will take three years to get fruit. which will be ripe in October. If it falls away easily it is ready to take. ( The side shoots will push out lateral spurs which bear fruiting buds. As with apples.
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. There is nothing you can do to keep this from happening except making sure you buy dwarf apples for the patio. water regularly and feed monthly Harvest September–October
GROWING APRICOTS
Most people think apricots are difﬁcult to grow in the UK. Remove all the other branches. JUNE DROP In June. Once the ﬂowers have set and fallen off. or to the boundary of your space.
Apples at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant Mature trees – any time without leaves Care Protect from wind. You should have three or four parallel wires. you can spray the plant with an organic insecticide against all sorts of insect pests. In the winter. but this is not the case. Biologically they are related to peaches but they don’t get peach leaf curl. through which you ﬁx thick garden wire horizontally.

The apricots are ripe when they fall off the tree easily.
Feeding
Apricots need calcium and so I have always used calciﬁed seaweed as a fertiliser. Blackcurrants thrive
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. protected from winds. Feed in the winter with a mulch made of compost and calciﬁed seaweed at the rate of 5:1 respectively. as the plant grows through the summer. As the fruit is swelling. which can coincide with driving snow in some years. give a general-purpose feed once a month and mulch again in summer. as with apples. mulch in winter with calciﬁed seaweed. Grow the plant in a large container (I have used an old-style dustbin in the past).
Pruning
They need only a general pruning to get an open dish shape when the plants are young and then to keep them tidy in following years by taking out crossing branches. If you are able. as long as they can be protected from the very coldest weather. a small greenhouse is probably the best place to grow the plant. water regularly and feed monthly Harvest August
GROWING BLACKCURRANTS
As with apples. This is particularly important during ﬂowering time.
Apricots at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant Mature trees – any time without leaves Care Protect from cold. and place it in a position where it can be in full sun. you can ﬁnd a blackcurrant to suit your environment. make sure they do not want for water. There are frost-hardy types as well as plants that do well in any kind of soil. or even in a conservatory. Then.HOW
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Apricots are hardy and will grow anywhere in the UK.

you can move them in winter to a warmer spot. but then remove any stems that are damaged. you grow blackcurrants in wheelie bins. the happier the plant will be. Blackcurrants bear fruit on new wood. Mix 50:50 compost and rotted manure. Do this by opening the centre of the plant by removing a quarter of the central branches. you will need to water regularly and feed every three weeks. Then. but this doesn’t have to happen.P ATIO P RODUCE
in an organic-rich soil with reasonable drainage.
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. you don’t need more than one bush ﬁlling the patio. You can plant them in November and any time there are no leaves on the plants. The fruits are ready around a fortnight after they have turned black and can be collected individually or you can wait for clumps. with a covering net. at least 2ft (60cm) diameter. They will also need to be protected from birds. I have to confess that the blackcurrant bush is there for me to get a little treat when I’m working on the patio. But as they are self-fertile. look diseased or are crossing each other.
Pruning
Leave the plants for 12 months before pruning. prune hard. Once the young fruits are developing.
Care
If. who love the fruit. They prefer full sun but will tolerate dappled shade. and grow the dwarf varieties like ‘Ben Sarek’. I cannot stress enough: the bigger the container. Sheltering the plant stops them from growing out of the soil and the roots from coming loose in really cold weather. each winter. so prune away the old wood to encourage growth. On the patio you need to put them into large containers. like me.

You should have two bushes to allow them to cross pollinate. water regularly and feed every three weeks Harvest Two weeks after colour change
GROWING BLUEBERRIES
Blueberries are fussy plants and in a pot you can pander to their needs easily. Feed them every three weeks with liquid fertiliser. They prefer acidic conditions and therefore you should provide them with ericaceous compost. You also need full sun. the fruits will swell and become dark blue. probably more easily than in the soil. When you get your plants put them in 18in (45cm) pots. when they are ready for harvest. Make a compost of 50% ericaceous compost. (Yes! Sawdust!) In the ﬁrst year remove the ﬂowers to allow the plants to grow strong. water regularly and feed every three weeks Harvest August–September
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. and if you cannot do that. against a south facing wall is ideal. otherwise you will not get much fruit. In late summer. a tablespoon of vinegar to a gallon of tap water should do. It doesn’t matter what time of the year you do this. Although this is more expensive. it is well worth it. 40% well-rotted manure and the rest sawdust. If you live in a lime area make sure you water only with rain water.
Blueberries at a glance
Pot size Large Sow/Plant Bushes Care Plant in acidic conditions.HOW
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Blackcurrants at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant Mature trees – any time without leaves Care Protect from cold.

Ensure you get into a routine with watering to get the best results. remove any inferior or small fruits and discard.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING FIGS
Figs grow on very sturdy bush-type trees. Fruit plants grown in pots should not be allowed to dry out otherwise fruit will fall. A wall will retain heat and protect the plant on cold nights. which will pull up your concrete paving or smash down your walls unless you take steps to control them.
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. except sometimes wrapping tender shoots to protect from severe frost. to avoid infection and allow the bigger ones to develop. This happens in the late summer and should be left through the winter to ripen by the following summer. Possibly the best way to grow them is to make a planter out of paving slabs. protect delicate fruits with bubble wrap. However. It is probably best to keep them under control in a 2ft (60cm) ceramic pot. hollow concrete blocks. cemented together. these animals do not exist in the UK. but since it is self fertile. They also do well with a liquid feed (something as simple as tomato food. During the winter.
Fruit
The ﬂower is never actually seen.
Strong roots
Figs have roots that will grow through almost anything. the plant will always set fruit. in the wild. On the very coldest nights. hence the more sunlight you can get the better. These Mediterranean plants will quite happily thrive through our winters with little extra care. applied in the usual dose for tomatoes) through the summer. or large.
Care
These are hungry plants and do well with regular additions of good soil-based compost. tiny wasps force themselves into the fruit to pollinate it.
Strong sun
These plants are natives of a thousand miles south of London. being hidden inside the plant and. though it is fairly robust and hardy without this.

which should take up to a month. On the main plant. Cuttings can be taken off two-year-old wood. so if you can manage to control yourself. It is amazing how well they do in pots as long as you look after them.HOW
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Pruning and propagation
Figs fruit on the previous year’s wood. allowing moisture to be blown away.
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. wait a few days before picking them. Take out the most crowded branches in the spring. They need heat from underneath to root. however. you will have no fruit. They have a trick up their sleeves. Sow/Plant Mature trees any time Care Keep watered and protect fruit through winter with bubble wrap Harvest July – one year after fruits ﬁrst appear
GROWING GOOSEBERRIES
Gooseberries are ideal candidates for a cold patio and if all you have is a few inches of snow and a north facing wall. and keep a little of the branch that it came from. Fill the bottom with crocks and then a layer of grit. Concrete if possible. creating a plant which is open to the air. Plant the specimen in compost on top of this. They are not too worried about the soil they grow in and you can ﬁll a container with any old compost. Prune gently. which can be then placed into moist compost. so if you cut it all out. To grow gooseberries in a pot you must make sure they won’t ever be standing in water and so you need a good 12in (30cm) pot. remove the shoots that are about 4 inches long. they are at their sweetest a few days after a hot spell. this plant is for you.
Figs at a glance
Pot size Extra large and very robust. Drainage is the important part – ﬁll the bottom of the pot with crocks to improve the drainage. making sure there are plenty of branches available to bear fruit next year. so place them in a 6 inch (15cm) pot of moist compost on a heated propagator.

In February prune the plant quite heavily (see below) and then add a layer of good quality rich compost on top of the old stuff. fuller. In May you will begin to see how much fruit is developing and take out smaller fruits to allow air to circulate around the rest. The problem is that when the fruits form they rot because the humidity around the branches is so high. Put the plant against the wall of the house for a little extra warmth. and repeat this process every year until the plant (or yourself) is old and gnarled. the mantra ‘drainage is the key’ is important. pot the whole plant on to the next size up. They also grow with a lot of crossed branches. There is nothing difﬁcult about it. but wear gloves unless you have elephant skin. But in all things. give it plenty of water. As in most pruning you are looking for an open dish shape. As long as the plant has fruit. sweeter fruits this way. This way you will have no problems with botrytis. just cut away. After a year.
Pruning
They are so full of sugar that gooseberries are prone to fungal diseases. Cut out all the branches that cross over one another. Prune in February when the plant has no leaves on it and you can see the thorns! Remove dead wood and then have a look for any crowded branches.P ATIO P RODUCE
Plant bushes in October when there is still a little warmth in the air and your plant will settle down in the pot. This is alleviated by cutting away the branches to let the air circulate. Each year you should replace as much compost as you can with fresh in the autumn and add a good handful of slow release fertiliser.
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. You also get bigger. Once a month give a little liquid feed in the water too.

Grapes like hot summers. All you need to know about grapes: 1. In the winter the wind howls through the car port and the vine loves it. All you have to remember is that you cut in winter and that you have some vines that will grow this year and only have leaves. like gooseberries. Why we think them difﬁcult and that they can only be grown in hot climates is probably more to do with wine companies than anything else. 4. dry springs and cold winters. Feed using slow-release fertiliser Harvest
July
GROWING GRAPES
Grapes were brought to this country by the Romans and in one form or another have remained here for 2000 years. If you don’t prune at all you end up with a long straggly plant that grows for ever and doesn’t produce that much fruit.HOW
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Gooseberries at a glance
Pot size Large Sow/Plant Plant bushes in October Care Ensure plant is open by pruning. That could be the UK to a ‘T’. New vines take 3 years to produce fruit. 2. An old tub. Fruit rots easily. but drained. about 3ft (1m) diameter and about the same high. They don’t fruit on new growth. 3. houses my grape vine and it trails along under the sheeting. There is a lot said about pruning regimes. They don’t like to be cut when there are leaves on the vine.
The ideal spot
I took the roof off my car port and replaced it with corrugated clear plastic sheeting. but next year will also bear fruit. keep watered. 5. They need a sleep in the winter (so keep them cool).
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and pinch back any lateral shoots to around ﬁve leaves.P ATIO P RODUCE
Training systems
There are a number of culture systems based on making either a single stem (cordon) or a double one. The following winter cut the main shoot back to old wood and the laterals to a strong bud each. tie in the main shoot and build your frame of wires. which usually means by the house. SINGLE CORDON VINES The traditional way to grow vines in the UK is to plant them outside a polytunnel and train the vines through the plastic (or a hole in the greenhouse glass) to the inside. so that the wires are at heights of 12in (30cm) to support the cordons. and the resulting growth is trained along the wires. Traditionally vines were planted above a rotting dead sheep. You can do the same on the patio. and any sub-laterals that form keep to a single leaf. The pot should be ﬁlled with rich compost. or a single wire on a frame or around the wall of the house (or hanging from the carport as in my case). cut back the main shoot by just over half and cut the laterals to a single bud each. When the leaves have fallen off in the winter. Take out any ﬂowers that form. In effect. In the winter. The buds will then grow out. The following summer treat the plant like you did the previous summer. mixed with plenty of well-rotted manure. In the summer of the ﬁrst year allow the plant to grow. The third summer allow one bunch of grapes per lateral shoot to form. The vines are either trained on a horizontal parallel wire system. to aid this. you have strengthened and prepared your plant ready for producing laterals that you will now tie in the following spring and summer. especially if you have somewhere warm for the summertime plant to grow. Build a wire frame. by leaving the branches outside. much as you did for apples. when the grapes are taken and
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until the grapes are ready for picking. Do this a couple of weeks after they have burst into life in the spring. When collecting grapes. If you are growing outside you will rarely be troubled with botrytis but a monthly spray with Bordeaux Mixture (which was invented by Benedictine monks just for this purpose) will keep problems at bay. If you are growing with tomatoes in a greenhouse be careful about watering because the toms evaporate a lot of moisture.
Harvest
Just like gooseberries you have to watch for ventilation because of the high sugar content. It is these buds you will use next year and so on. Water diligently. 12. cut the laterals to two buds.
Fig. Try not to do this.HOW
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the leaves have fallen. but ensure the humidity is low around the leaves and fruit. This means removing fruits and increasing ventilation. cut at the piece of vine they are joined onto and don’t handle the fruit at all because you might spread fungal spores around the plant.
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. Vine
Care
Indoor vines do well if they are fed with tomato fertiliser each month.

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Grapes at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant Vines in May Care Protect from humidity, water frequently and feed once per month Harvest August

GROWING KIWIS
The kiwi came to our shores from New Zealand, where much of the climate is not dissimilar to our own, so you would have thought it possible to grow the plant here in the UK. There have been a couple of problems growing kiwis whose varieties have been made up of male and female plants. I have always found the male one in particular has lacked vigour and didn’t always do too well. This would leave me with masses of luxurious growth on the female plant but no fruit. Furthermore, older varieties need quite a lot of sunlight to successfully set fruit and this has restricted their popularity, though examples of good fruiting as far north as Yorkshire do exist.

Easy grow patio version
With the introduction of the variety ‘Jenny’, kiwis are easy to grow. It’s getting them to bear fruit that is the problem. Fruit is produced on new growth that appears from canes that are a year old and older. The amount of fruit each bears diminishes each year, the older the cane, proportionately, the less fruit they bear. Cut out the canes once they are three years old, down to their base. Maintain a healthy number of new, oneand two-year-old canes and you should have good fruiting. ‘Jenny’ is a self-fertile variety that is bought as a young plant, taking away the problems of pollination. The plant is hardier and will fruit in more temperate climates. You can train the canes (some people call them vines) on a series of wires attached to a southern-facing wall or trellis.
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You will buy ‘Jenny’ as a pot plant around 3ft tall, and it will be in its second year. This plant will take another two years to start producing fruit, and should not be pruned until then. Choose a sunny aspect and provide a rich compost. Once the plant has been set in its ﬁnal place, give it a good watering and then leave it for a couple of weeks before assessing the need for another drink. They usually do not require much in the way of watering unless there has been a considerable drought. Put the plant into the largest container you can ﬁnd – I use an old wash tub with a diameter of around 3ft (1m) and a similar depth. Possibly the most useful and accessible container for this plant is a plastic water butt and I have seen them in such containers that have been sawn two thirds of the way up leaving one container for the kiwi, and another for whatever else you need. After the plant has fruited, prune to the oldest canes, but only one or two, and train the younger ones. Once your plant grows it will reach a peak of production at around six to eight years. By this time you will have a well-developed regime of pruning and fruiting. Prune in February and, each April, give the plant a good dressing of well-rotted compost and some organic fertiliser. Scrape away at the old compost and replace it with fresh as far as you are able. The plant is quite hardy in the winter, just do not water unless it is showing signs of stress. During the summer, feed the plant with a good liquid fertiliser (I use tomato feed) through the ﬂowering and fruit-setting period, once a month until September.

Grow from cuttings
You can take cuttings of old stems in summer, as long as you include the growing point – the tip of the plant. They are placed into moist sand or a combination of sand and compost. They will strike in the autumn and by the following spring can be potted up as individuals. These can then be allowed to grow during the whole of the following year and put into their ﬁnal positions in the following spring. I have found that the plant is so vigorous that two plants is one too many.
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Harvesting
The fruit starts to appear as small green berries that grow to plum size. They change colour from green to brown once ripe. When this colour change is just underway, you can pick them. They are usually hard and take a couple of weeks to soften ready for eating. They will keep all year in the fridge and a couple of months on the table. If you pick them too early they will be tart and have no sweetness, but if you pick them too late they will shortly turn into a mushy mess. The fruit of the self-fertile varieties are on the small size compared with the commercial ones, and they are less hairy. Some people say that if you can cross pollinate a self-fertile variety, the fruits are bigger, but I haven’t found anyone that has really done it.

Disease
There are few problems with kiwis in the UK. They can, if over watered a great deal and the soil is poorly drained, get root rot, but this is quite a rare problem. Similarly, red spider mite can create a problem, particularly if it is in a small polytunnel, but this too is uncommon. One of the strangest problems reported about kiwi plants is that some cats like them so much they dig and claw at the base of the stems.

Kiwis at a glance
Pot size At least 1m Sow/Plant Mature trees – any time without leaves Care Feed monthly in summer, water only when needed. Harvest Just as fruit change colour

GROWING MELONS
To grow melons on the patio requires a little skill and a lot of perseverance. They are grown normally on little mountains of soil where they can bask in the sun, but the patio cannot easily produce this. But you can keep them clean by allowing them to lollop over the side of the pot. You are best starting them indoors, sowing two seeds vertically in a 3in (8cm) pot of good John Innes No. 1 compost.
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All this talk of global warming is good for melons because they like the weather hot. Wrap the pot in black plastic to help it warm up and keep the plant in the hottest part of the patio. remember little and often is best. Again I keep three good ones rather than a lot of small ones per plant. they will be smaller and they will have no ﬂavour. A sure sign of ripeness for harvest is the aroma of wonderful sweetness which is given off by the fruits to attract someone (or some animal) to come along and eat it. When you take the melon outdoors try to cover with a cloche for as long as you can. I have made a little tent in the past from clear plastic that ﬁts over the plant when the weather is poor. a period in storage of about a week will improve their sweetness. Don’t let the plant dry out. Melons need heat and good sunlight. Make sure that long periods of drought followed by emergency watering never happen. melons simply slip off the vine if you move the plant around. Pollinate the plants by hand as the female ﬂowers appear.
Problems and diseases
In the UK melons suffer from people over-watering them. the Persian types. but along with the heat we seem to get our fair share of wind and rain.
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. they’ll get rot type diseases. Driving windy rain is a real problem for melons. remain ﬁxed to the vine and you have to cut them off. and over-feeding. When this happens they will become too ﬂeshy. We have enough heat. When you have taken them. Put it in an 18in (45cm) pot of very rich compost. but make sure they are in a well protected sunny spot. I have found that the best approach is to water every three days and every second watering to give the plant a feed with tomato fertiliser.HOW
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Transplant outdoors in June. Some melons.
Harvesting
When harvesting. which they hate. These do not improve much in storage at all. When the melons are swelling out you can water every two days. from cool conditions – especially late frosts.

causing more damage. The sugary fruits are the major target for fungal problems. Fruiting begins when the trees are four years old. but bear in mind eventual spread can be up to 12ft. Keep the plant free from drought. spilling their contents inside the fruit and this then encourages fungal growth. The key to success is care. well-rotted compost. keep only one fruit per plant and have it as a very expensive luxury. Fan training is the traditional method of growing peaches.P ATIO P RODUCE
Melons have large watery cells but unlike citrus fruits they do not have much natural antifreeze. Also the cells that are broken invariably contain enzymes that work on the rest of the tissues. The most common problems are powdery mildew and root rot. you cannot fan train a peach and move it around at the same time. feed every third day watering Harvest When fallen from vine
GROWING PEACHES
Peaches need warmth and are difﬁcult to grow on the patio unless you have a greenhouse to move them into whenever it is too cold. water every other day (every day in hot weather). Peaches and nectarines fruit on young shoots. As the cells cook they break apart. You can use a copper based fungicide once a month but they seldom do much good. so after harvest cut back all the branches that have fruited to a point where a new shoot has appeared. as the height can be easily restricted. You can provide adequate support by using horizontal wires attached to upright posts. Pot-grown trees produce lower yields but can be moved around as necessary and even brought outside on warm sunny days. The plant can cope with a small amount of such damage but as soon as a certain level is reached. the plant goes into rapid decline. at an even temperature and do not use anything other than good quality. free from being waterlogged. and they can produce crops for up to 30 years.
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. However. If you feel you are not doing so well.
Melons at a glance
Pot size Large Sow/Plant Seeds in April Care Protect from weather.

Pruning a bush pear
Year 1 To prune a new tree.
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. is when planted in a space left by a paving slab removed from the patio and trained against a southern wall. Containers should be as big as possible with a minimum depth of 18–24 inches (45–60cm). one third compost. PEACHES AT A GLANCE
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant Mature trees – any time without leaves Care Keep warm and water at soil Harvest July
GROWING PEARS
In essence. count four buds from the base of the tree and cut the main stem about 1–2 inches (2–4cm) above this bud. and one third well-rotted manure. Feed once a month with liquid fertiliser. Fill the bottom with crocks and then a few inches of grit on top of this to help drainage. Growing apples and pears in pots is very common. Make your compost out of one third soil. but you will have to water your tree every day over the summer. when the tree is dormant. Water the pear when the compost feels dryish. You will have more control over drainage in the pot. Pears especially don’t like driving winds. scrape as much compost out as you can and renew. and I have never had room to do this myself. but don’t let it completely dry out. as long as you protect them from the worst of the weather.HOW
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The only way I have seen peaches doing well on a patio. In the winter. Mulch with fresh compost in spring and summer. there is no difference between apples and pears. They will also need feeding regularly.

Cut all the side branches back by a third of their length.
Removing the crown
You are looking to ﬁnd the growing buds inside the leaves of the pineapple. thus increasing its shelf life. water regularly and feed monthly Harvest September–October
GROWING PINEAPPLES
It is possible to grow pineapples from shop-bought fruits. Some people slice the top off the pineapple. Always cut just above an outwardly facing bud then the tree will branch outward. Of course make sure the fruit is edible because we do not need this part for the growing process. Once you have your top. This is the part you need if you want the novelty of growing your own pineapples. You are trying to keep the mass of branches light. Choose a plant that is completely intact with leaves on the top. cut back the new growth by a third. every year. However. with a little bit of ﬂesh behind it.
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Year 2 From now on all pruning takes place in the winter. If your plant shows any sign of rot you should discard it straight away – pineapples are susceptible to fungal infections. no later than the end of January. some supermarkets pull out the growing point of the pineapple. so you might as well enjoy it.
Year 3
Pears at a glance
Pot size Extra large Sow/Plant Mature trees – any time without leaves Care Protect from wind. When I ﬁrst did this I placed it in water and the plant rotted very quickly. From now on. Others twist the top off the plant and throw it away. Do not cut the old wood unless it is diseased. No amount of potting and watering will make these crowns grow. leave it to dry out for a while on a shelf. by planting the crown (leaves on top).

Keep the minimum temperature to 13°C. So if you put the plant next to the fruit bowl you will have greater success. Re-pot the plant after a year into a 10in (25cm) pot. if you have any remaining at all. The best way is to put the whole piece of pineapple in an 8in (20cm) pot of moist compost. If you look closely. and it is these that are going to grow. Keep the compost moist and simply leave it.HOW
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Rooting
If you peel away at the leaves you will ﬁnd some little rootlets. and it should go into an 18in (45cm) one the year after. but when you get a successful fruit it really brings a smile to your face.
Dead leaves
The old leaves of the pineapple. cut out a root with a little of the stem. Keep it free from frost at all times. The embryonic roots need to be coaxed into life. during the summer. or simply place the whole piece in compost. You can speed up the ﬂowering by using the plant hormone ethylene.
Flowering
After a couple of years the plant will send out a ﬂower like a bromeliad. will die back and you should remove them. feed with an all-purpose fertiliser once a month. of which family pineapples are members.
Care
Sparingly water your plant so the compost is lightly damp and. Pineapples are a bit of fun more than anything else. you will see the replacements beginning to form. released by other ripe fruit. It might take months for the plant to grow but eventually the roots will take off.
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. You can do this is two ways. which is done by standing them in moist compost. but you can take it outdoors in the summer.

20 inches (50cm) wide and as long as you need. should be cut down to 8 inches/20cm from the soil. which sounds like a contradiction. The raspberries should be planted at intervals of 18 inches (45cm) and well ﬁrmed-in. This is done during the winter. New raspberry bushes. A handful of bonemeal for every two plants. The box is ﬁlled with good quality compost and well-rotted manure.P ATIO P RODUCE
Pineapples at a glance
Pot size Medium – repotting later Sow/Plant Crowns inside Care Water sparingly and feed monthly Harvest After 2[ years
GROWING RASPBERRIES
There’s a funny saying about raspberries: ‘They are thirsty plants that like dry feet’. with plenty of grit and crockery for drainage. Pile a little more compost over the base of the plants so that it comes close to the top of the box. As the plants grow they’ll need to be supported on the wires. feed them in the late spring with an organic fertiliser. They prefer free-draining soils that have plenty of moisture available. but they rot if there’s any standing water. In the second year. which makes them great for growing on the patio. If any fruit appear in the ﬁrst year. ﬁx a wire to canes on either side for them to be supported. once planted. pull them off and allow all the plant’s resources to go into making good roots and healthy crowns (the complex system of stems below the surface). but they do much better in full sun. Running horizontally down the middle of the box. They are woodland plants so shade isn’t a particular problem. but is true. Without this they never seem to grow vigorously at all. forked in with a little compost is a good idea.
Summer-fruiting raspberries
These are planted in a box (if you can manage it) 18 inches (45cm) deep. The
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cut the old canes down to 6 inches (15cm).HOW
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raspberry canes will grow and fruit. As with many plants on the patio. Any non-fruiting canes should be tied-in and allowed to grow. Make sure they are well ﬁrmed in and they are deeply set in the compost. or once the harvest has been taken. water October regularly but check drainage. water July–August regularly but ensure drainage. Prune back in February. Raspberries are mostly water so it’s logical really. All you do is cut the growth back to 6in (15cm) and the new growth will provide the later season’s berries. at least 18in (45cm) with good quality John Innes No. You should grow them in large pots. with rich manure-ﬁlled compost mixture.
Raspberries at a glance
Variety Summer-fruiting Pot size Extra large – wide box Sow/Plant December–February Care Harvest Cut down when planted. During dry periods give them a really good soaking once a week. Replace compost every two years
Autumn-fruiting
Extra large – wide box
October
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Care of raspberries
Raspberries need water and in order to get good fruit you should water regularly. Replace compost every two years. 3 compost. lift them out and replace the compost as best as you can. Every two years. You should plant in October and put them in a sheltered part of the patio. autumn fruiting ones are pruned in winter. you need to protect them from the effects of water too. in the winter. Summer fruiting raspberries are pruned at the end of the summer.
Autumn-fruiting raspberries
These are grown singly as standalone plants and they need no support. In July.

I cover them with ﬂeece if the weather is very poor. getting through the winter with no real problems. They prefer (though it is not essential) a well drained position. sold as seed. They are very hardy and will easily live through the worst winters. in its third year it begins to succumb. Plants bought in September also do well. A good handful of grit in the bottom increases the drainage and prolongs the summertime growth if it’s rainy. The plants need to be watered every couple of days when ﬁrst planted. Plant the strawberries so that the crown in the centre of the plant is at the soil’s surface. So the more sunshine they get. too shallow and they will refuse to grow at all. but just as poor. but after that weekly should be ﬁne unless there are some serious droughts. Every other possible combination of weather conditions and plant type does not matter. In the spring. modern dairy cows have become milk-generating machines. I usually use my ﬁnger to remove them. sweet juice. They are best planted in April and May. A plant takes a year to become well established. and in its fourth year it is not worth
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. Originally. it is in full production. modern strawberries are sugar factories.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING STRAWBERRIES
The only time you have to worry about strawberries is if you have new growth in a frosty spring. In its second year. Strawberries have problems with greenﬂy. the better. though any time except the winter or a frosty spring is ﬁne. Grow them in pots of all sizes and you can also buy strawberry planters. Too deep and they will be susceptible to rot. Then in May. Take care with their removal as the greenﬂy can carry viruses from which the strawberries can really suffer. if ever. but as new plants. lay straw under the leaves and developing fruit so that none is resting on the soil. the plant was native of the woodland edge. So get them into the sun!
Planting
Strawberries are seldom. The basic job of a strawberry is to turn sunshine into lovely ﬂavoured. so put plenty of grit underneath them.

it is possible to grow your own citrus plants. So every third year it is best to replace your strawberry plants. They have been grown for many hundreds of years and it is quite possible for you to mimic the environment needed to grow such exotic plants. limes.
Runners
Strawberries send out sideways branches called runners. grapefruits. The plants in this section. When the plant is a year old these runners should be cut off to allow the plant to grow strong. Your replacement plants can be kept in a cool greenhouse in their little pots over the winter and planted out into larger ones in the spring. which at intervals of about 12in (30 cm) give little plantlets. In the second year put the plantlet into a 3in (8cm) pot and place a pebble on the runner to hold it down. In truth
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. These plants are so tough that you can ignore them and they will still grow. After a few months the runner will have rotted away and you have a new strawberry plant. You need to acclimatise them to the outdoor life by taking them out during the day and bringing them in at night. These are genetically identical to the parent plant so produce exactly the same fruit.HOW
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keeping. lemons. kumquats etc.
Strawberries at a glance
Pot size Medium Sow/Plant April–May Care Protect from frosts in spring. even though they look half-dead. in the same way as its parent. This is done by using the plant’s own system for dealing with this problem: runners. oranges. This plant does not suffer from the viruses of its parent and is essentially a brand new plant. It will though inevitably start to have problems over time. are easily grown and are prized for their ﬂavour and the supposed Vitamin C content. water weekly Harvest When berries are red – July/August
GROWING CITRUS PLANTS ON THE PATIO
If you have a conservatory.

which they are in a modest way. not just the basic oranges and lemons. so it may as well be treated as though it was a permanent house plant. Start with a 2ft (60cm) pot when you ﬁrst buy your tree and each year pot it on until the plant is living in a 3ft (1m) pot. Use a good quality general fertiliser at least once a month during the summer and once a fortnight in the spring. If the temperature drops much below 3°C they will really suffer. During the winter they need less water. They don’t like to be too wet. You should not use plastic pots because the roots can starve of air. but they need lots of sunlight. It is the old conundrum the patio gardener has to live with: the need for water without water-logging the plant. You need a large terracotta pot as it is porous and provides an amount of air to the roots.
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. They can be brought outdoors in the summer. Indoors in the UK it is possible to grow a very wide variety of citrus fruit. but they also have a tendency to ﬂower during this period. not for the warmth it brings. They need a sunny spot too. but have never quite managed it so far. Cold. Clearly this is too heavy to move around at this stage. but because they are grown in pots they need a lot of moisture in small amounts. 3) and incorporate up to 15% sand into the mix.P ATIO P RODUCE
the most important natural source of Vitamin C is the rosehip. Fill it with soil-based compost (John Innes No.
Conditions for growth
The big problem is the need for a frost free environment in the winter months. with a slightly different balance of nutrients. this is an unnecessary expense. but when the British navy ﬁnally accepted the link between Vitamin C and scurvy they loaded their ships with the fruit. and the old English ‘Orangery’ always had extra wide doors for this purpose. but unless you are going to show the fruit in competitions. and the idea has stuck in the nation’s imagination that lemons are full of Vitamins. driving rain will kill them off. and so they should have the protection of a cool greenhouse or conservatory. You can buy special winter feed for citrus plants. I have always wanted an orange in ﬂower on Christmas Day.

Trim just above a fat bud and do so that if the rain were to fall on the wound. The way to tell a healthy plant is by seeing the leaf drop in winter. They should only lose around a third of their leaves and no more. too cold or too dark. As with apples and other top fruit. You can lose them in August if there are ﬂash ﬂoods and you are unable to get them out of the water. If they lose more. Around half of them will take and you can pot these on as soon as they have rooted.HOW
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Propagation
It is great fun to open a lemon or an orange and try to germinate the seed. citrus trees bought from garden centres and nurseries are grafted onto different rootstocks. You can trim to suit the size of the room with no problems. ask the nurseryman for his help. Keep them watered little and often. and you might not wish to wait that long. It will take a full decade before the plant will ﬂower. You can also take cuttings in the autumn. Yellowing leaves is a sign of stress. Keep plants well ventilated but out of strong draughts to avoid botrytis and other fungal infections. This is quite possible in most cases and the plant will grow readily. You should try to get a dwarﬁng rootstock. too little water.
Re-potting and pruning
Pruning takes place in the spring when you are trying to make a pleasing shape with no criss-crossed branches.
Pests and problems
All the family suffer from the same set of pests from aphids. to red spider mite and scale insects. Don’t be tempted to bring the plant
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. re-pot the plant and give it a little water. however. the water will fall away from the bud. which are probably the worst. but avoid them standing in water on the patio. too much water. perhaps because you are on holiday. Simply take off pieces of branch that have two buds on it and pop them into moist compost.

so there is always a ‘baby’ fruit inside. You can buy oranges for growth in the UK where blanco oranges are the favourite.
Limes and limequats
Limes can be trimmed to about 5 ft high and then will remain happily producing fruit each year for many years. An annual trimming keeps them in check and they have brilliant ﬂavour. You can eat the whole fruit and it tastes like a lime. They are best not moved around.
Oranges
Oranges came to the UK with the slave trade when botany was the national craze. They came from a mutation from oranges and were grown out at Kew and private gardens. others remaining acid green in colour. Navel oranges came from a single mutant orange found in Brazil and have a double ﬂower. They can be eaten complete and are great for making a soaked fruit in syrup. They are smaller and so can be borne on smaller trees.
Grapefruit
Grapefruits were also brought here from the West Indies. make a polystyrene cape for it and keep it outside until late September if there are no frosts.
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.
Kumquats
Kumquats are fast growing. A limequat is a cross between a lime and a kumquat.
Clementines and Satsumas
These plants are brilliant at Christmas and when they are grown at home they ripen just around Christmas too. To my mind there is no better Christmas present.P ATIO P RODUCE
indoors too soon. There are half a dozen varieties that grow well in the UK. These are easiest to grow and can be treated like oranges. Most fruits can be harvested from November to December. some turning yellow.

CHAPTER 7
HOW TO GROW HERBS ON THE PATIO
The fact that we call some plants vegetables or others fruits. like garlic. Of course. The reasons for using herbs have not changed over the years. Their origins often reach into the distant past. have been helping the human immune system deal with invaders for thousands of years. rosemary or violets.
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. Sometimes they are used purely for colour such as angelica. long before fast food or kitchens even. although we probably know less about them now than we ever did. There is a long list of plants that we have gathered together with the general umbrella title ‘herbs’. ﬂavour is an important consideration but they are also used medicinally. and in a time of fast food perhaps we need to take a step back and renew our long-treasured relationship with British herbs. and many of them. or cosmetically such as eyebright. does not detract from the fact that in a very real way all plants are actually herbs. Their use in the kitchen and in medicine or around the home is just as important today as ever in the past. such as feverfew or comfrey. and other times they are the main part of the dish – often the case with chives or parsley.

or even sleeps under the tree. should be grown only in a pot because otherwise it takes over the garden. because of their ancient medical use. For example. such as mint. Rapidly growing plants. because of its sedative qualities. reﬂect this ancient use. especially when you buy those little tubs of living herbs from the supermarket. Many herbs were afforded magical properties which. and window bouquets. into the fairy world. Preserving herbs in such a way as to preserve the essential oils inside them is quite an art and it is possible to get well preserved or dried herbs – especially if you have done it yourself! Sometimes drying concentrates the ﬂavour. you can freeze them in closed food bags. Most herbs do well in pots of compost.
GROWING HERBS
The following section discusses how you can grow a variety of herbs in a small space.
CHOOSING AND GROWING
Fresh is best! But sometimes fresh can be a little disappointing. pot pourri. such as placing them with linen sheets. They decorated their heroes with herbs and used various plants as disinfectants (as did the Greeks). On the whole. One of the ﬁne jobs of autumn is to dry your herbs for the winter. and remember to water them every day during the summer or warm weather. It is perhaps best to earmark a really sunny spot. fragrance and taste will be so much better. Alternatively. Most of the ﬂavours of herbs develop when the plant is well fed and not under water stress. and many more modern uses for herbs. elderberry. near the house. have come into modern folklore. has the reputation of carrying anyone who takes it. The colour. and so you need to modify your quantities. After about a week you will really see the difference.P ATIO P RODUCE
The Romans introduced many herbs into the UK.
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. herbs are easy to grow. To get the best from them you need to transplant the herb into some rich compost. place it in good strong sunlight and feed it with a solution of fertiliser.

The seedlings will emerge after a fortnight. Sow a few seeds in a large pot.
GROWING BORAGE
You can sow borage in pots or trays indoors in March. It is ﬁlled with aroma and makes the patio in high summer so fragrant. starting again the following spring. By late autumn I bring a few pots into my plastic patio greenhouse and keep them going as long as I can into winter. sow seeds in compost and keep it frost-free. around 15C but not below 10C. and ﬁll it with compost made from 25% sand. the rest compost and a handful of grit. at least 18 inches (45cm) in April. in any old container as varied as old boots to old tomato tins as well as more conventional pots and planters. In the spring. It needs little care. just make sure it never dries out by watering from below and feed it with liquid fertiliser once a fortnight to make sure you have the most aromatic leaves. Let it ﬂower in the following year and it will produce loads of strongly ﬂavoured seeds.HOW
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GROWING ANISE
Anise is an ancient plant used from before the golden age of Ancient Greece. It is aniseed in ﬂavour and you can use the seeds and the leaves. It needs pricking out into 3 inch (8cm) pots and then potting on to until you get to 12 inch (30cm) pots. It is not that
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. Try to keep the plant in a constant temperature. I sow them in April. pinch them out to encourage more leaf growth.
GROWING BASIL
This is one of those plants you should grow in pots and containers wherever you have space. The rest I take up and compost. If ﬂowers appear. then remove to airtight containers. Take off the seed heads and store in paper bags until they burst. Basil is a health-giving plant and grows fairly easily as long as it has plenty of sun.

Sow indoors in March and move it outdoors at the end of April.
GROWING CARAWAY
This plant. You simply take the leaves when you want them. Keep the plants watered regularly and feed fortnightly.
GROWING BURNET
This plant is used in teas and is supposed to help with blood ﬂow and circulation.
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. though it is the seeds that are mostly used now. I sow a few seeds and thin them so I eventually have a single large plant. related to the carrot. You need ordinary compost and a 12 inch (30cm) pot.P ATIO P RODUCE
Fig. can be eaten from the roots to the seeds. You can take the ﬂowers to ﬂavour drinks and it is a major constituent in Pimms. Sow a few in 12 inch (30cm) pots in September. but don’t take my word for it and never treat yourself for medical conditions. Basil
bothered about the compost and you can use old compost from last year. To make a tea simply put a few leaves in the bottom of a cup and pour on boiling water. 13. Burnet grows very easily in pots of compost with grit in it to aid drainage.

Keep it watered and fed fortnightly. 14. Simply sow in March indoors into ordinary compost and prick the seeds out into 3 inch (8cm) pots.
Fig. It will double in height too. and the following spring repeat the care regime until the plant sets seed. Collect the seeds. the plant grows about a foot high.
GROWING CATNIP
This is a type of mint highly enamoured by cats. do well as bedding plants. It grows quite large. Bring it near the house for protection in the second winter. Thin them out to one per pot. but it looks very beautiful and is worth growing. of which catnip is a variety. Catnip
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. You can transplant the thinnings to other 12 inch (30cm) pots.HOW
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Keep them indoors and frost-free during the winter and you will have decent plants by April. and in June I transplant it to 12 inch (30cm) pots. It is perennial but I ﬁnd on the patio all the nepetia species. In the ﬁrst year.

Pick the leaves to make tea. or chamomile will grow all over the patio if you let it.P ATIO P RODUCE
GROWING CHAMOMILE
This is a long-loved plant of the English garden. You should buy lots of seeds each year. just a couple in a cup of boiling water. They will seed themselves and are biennial but I buy new seed every year. simply transplanting them to larger pots with fresh compost. just leave them to grow. You can ﬁll pots of any size – I don’t bother to thin them out. cracks in paving stones. When you need chives for cooking or salads you can simply go out with the scissors. and give very pretty. I like to sprinkle seeds around large planters.
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. Arthemis. This is a plant you can literally ignore. You can use the leaves and seeds in cooking – especially with trout. maybe keep it watered and fed when you remember. They prefer full sun and apart from that they grow themselves. It is sometimes more convenient to buy young plants from the supermarket or garden centre.
GROWING FEVERFEW
These plants resemble chamomile but they grow to about 1ft (30cm) high in 6 inch (15cm) pots of rich compost. although in my experience it seeds at the end of its ﬁrst summer. anywhere there is a bit of earth for it to grab a hold on.
GROWING CHIVES
These are brilliant plants. They look a little bit like grass. You get bright green leaves and daisy ﬂower. Simply sow a few seeds per pot and thin out as they grow. spherical purple ﬂowers. Simply scatter the seeds about the pots on the patio – I like to put a line of them around the outside of planters.
GROWING DILL
This plant is a little like fennel and can be treated in exactly the same way. but they are little round tubes that grow to about 1ft (30cm).

I tend to grow this fresh every two years. The problems are usually a swollen tongue.
GROWING MARIGOLD
This garden plant is edible. You must remember to feed at least every three weeks during the growing period. Fresh plants do not do that well in the winter and they are best treated as annuals. Mine is eight years old and still going strong. Once you have a stand going in a tub they will last for years.
GROWING MARJORAM
Marjoram is a savoury herb that goes very well with all kinds of meat and is often described as being the very best herb for this purpose. It likes good drainage but also likes to be watered well. to buy plants and transfer them in April or May. Take leaves from June to November and bring inside before the ﬁrst frosts. It makes a great addition to a salad and since you can use the ﬂower as well as the leaf. but it is a very rare event. you can add some surprising colour to an otherwise boring salad. 20% well-rotted manure.
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. and 10% sand. It is better if you can grow it in a large tub (remember those _ sawn off water butts?) of compost that is 70% rich compost. Grow them in pots of compost from seeds sown in April. sown each year. The leaves are slightly peppery and fairly mild. If you feed it monthly it will colour up well and smell lovely. venison or lamb. In fact. because it’s easiest. You are probably best. It is also an excellent constituent of soups of all kinds.HOW
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GROWING LAVENDER
This plant needs full sun and should be well drained. Water well in the summer and feed every three weeks. the orange dye found in the petals is chemically the same as the orange in carrots. especially to steaks of beef. Do consider adding marjoram. Some people have been found to have an allergic reaction to the leaves. so try a small amount ﬁrst to check.

It is this ingredient that gives it its heat and healing properties. Serve it so that each person gets at least two petals each. transplant some of these to 6 inch (15cm) pots and let them grow out to get seeds for your own mustard. This way the roots are restricted and the plant will not out-grow its welcome. I use this plant all over the patio to disguise other food plants and generally brighten things up. White mustard is used in pickling spices and the other two are hotter. They ripen in September.
GROWING MINT
Apart from being obviously minty and extremely useful in the kitchen. Apart
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. it is the digestive system that beneﬁts. Sow indoors in March and outdoors in May. There are dozens of types of mint and they all share one irritating fact: they grow like mad! If you put a mint plant in the soil be aware that it will spread everywhere. There are three types of mustard: black.
GROWING MUSTARD
Mustard is a member of the cabbage family and consequently full of sulphur. The roots of the plant are very vigorous and within a few weeks you will be sick of the sight of them. Sow in trays and simply let them grow for mustard greens.P ATIO P RODUCE
You can grow marigolds in pots. and a large amount of the countryside was once used for their propagation. Mint aids the digestive system in ﬁghting bacteria as well as easing the membranes that so easily become inﬂamed. white and brown. You need a dozen plants for a reasonable amount of seed. The best way to grow mint is to put it in 6 inch (15cm) plastic pots. used in sauces and condiments. However. up there with the likes of garlic and onion. mint is one of the most health giving plants there is. In this case. It is easiest to buy a small plant from the supermarket and pot this on into larger ones with fresh compost. Soak them in water before adding them to salads or sandwiches to give the insects a chance to get away and then dry them between pieces of kitchen paper.

If you buy a ‘living herb’ from the supermarket or a pot from the garden centre.
GROWING ROSEMARY
This pleasantly pungent herb is named after rosmarinus. If kept moderately warm. Parsley is easy to grow from seed in moist compost: just broadcast seeds on a tray in spring and transplant to 3 inch (8cm) pots when the plants are big enough to handle. Curly parsley has bright green. and then on to 6 inch (15cm) pots. The herb is used fresh and although slightly different. The essential oil can induce anything from convulsions to nausea and vomiting.
GROWING PARSLEY
Today parsley is the most commonly used herb in the world. There are three types. and it doesn’t resemble mint in ﬂavour. and has been used as a herb or in marinades for oily ﬁsh and meat. translated as ‘the dew of the sea’ and has nothing to do with roses or Mary. The ﬂavour will be strengthened if you provide a feed of well-rotted compost in the spring and it will need to be kept well watered. many lobed leaves and excellent ﬂavour.HOW
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from this. which are reminiscent of celeriac. it grows quickly. it is easy to grow. Flat leaf parsley has large ﬂat leaves and a strong ﬂavour. and should be avoided by anyone who has allergic reactions. People who have epilepsy should avoid taking this herb since it promotes seizures. It is a member of the mint family. place it in a pot of good compost and keep it moist
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. It is a powerfully astringent herb that produces some pretty violent responses in susceptible people. it is also dried to create a strong aromatic ﬂavour. though the pinnate leaves are borne on woody stems. You can grow rosemary from cuttings. Use rich compost and feed and water regularly. Turnip rooted parsley is grown for its roots.

In the summertime cut out sprigs of leaves that do not bear ﬂowers and simply stand the sprig into a small pot of moist compost. I sow them in ordinary compost in modules and transplant the plants to 6 inch (15cm) pots and I restrict them to these around the patio. particularly pheasant and veal and can be sprinkled on ﬁsh – particularly trout. You need to grow lots around the patio. in a marinade or a ragout. sowing indoors in March.
GROWING VALERIAN AND VERBENA
These plants belong to the same family and are quite posionous in large quantities. Transplant to 3 inch (8cm) pots and up to 12 inch (30cm) pots by June. stripped off a single twig.
GROWING THYME
This is one of the favourites of the garden. in good sunlight. They should root easily and the following year you should have some decent little plants. It is also used with game.
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. The plant needs to be brought near the house in the winter. It likes full sun and you will need to feed it fortnightly. but with no manure. scattered over lamb before roasting. It is easy to grow but on the patio I suggest you get new plants every two years. and on very cold days it is best to bring it indoors. You can grow from seeds sown in March indoors. Bring them near the house in winter for added warmth. or blood pressure problems for that matter. You can sow them in rich compost. In this way it will last around four years if you don’t over pick it. Just take leaves as you want them.
GROWING SAGE
Again sage is probably best bought as plants and simply transplanted into good quality compost in 12 inch (30cm) pots. when they can be placed outdoors. This herb has really beautiful ﬂowers beloved by bumblebees. You should not take them when pregnant or if you have liver problems or kidney problems. Rosemary is so strong that only a few leaves are needed.P ATIO P RODUCE
but not wet.

but is best started new each year.
GROWING WATERCRESS
For those of you who believe this is only a garnish to be left on the side of your plate then think again! Watercress is probably one of the healthiest things you can eat! Plant seeds in very moist compost in April. winter savoury is brilliant! It looks a little like thyme and grows well in pots. You can keep the plant short and take it when you need it. The plants are thinned to one good one per pot and then popped in a bucket of water. but it didn’t work too well. wonderfully aromatic and completely underused. If you grow this herb. Sow in pots of compost (I use paper pots) and transplant the whole lot into a 12 inch (30cm) pot in April. I tried to arrange a pipe from my roof downspout.
GROWING WINTER SAVOURY
Warming. Keep it indoors until the frost has gone in June.
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. You can also buy it as plants and simply transplant them. Then I found American land cress. leave it alone for a year and then it should crop for ever.HOW
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GROWING VIOLET
You can buy packets of sweet violet seed and plant it in April indoors. It will live for ever. especially if you trim it regularly. which can be changed every day. which simply grows without fuss in compost pots. or in early summer you can buy it as a bedding plant. it grows quite well.

.
Plant Asparagus Variety ‘Good King Henry’ ‘Crimson Paciﬁc’ ‘Green Globe’ ‘Fuseau’ ‘Black Beauty’ ‘Snowy’ ‘Bunyard’s Exhibition’ Best known variety A white variety The old-fashioned beans and still very good Notes
The best cropper
Artichoke Globe Jerusalem Artichoke Aubergine
Broad Beans
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. should be bought on dwarﬁng rootstocks. like apples. The point is. for pot growing. the smaller the better.CHAPTER 8
VARIETIES OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
DIFFERENT VARIETIES
Many of the varieties of fruit and vegetables I have grown on the patio have been with varying amounts of success. pears etc. Needless to say that any fruit on root stocks.

V ARIETIES
French Beans ‘Blue Lake’ ‘Tendergreen’ ‘Polestar’ ‘Boltardy’ ‘Burpees Golden’
OF
F RUIT
AND
V EGETABLES
This is the dwarf one Seems to crop forever A great all-rounder
Runner Beans Beetroot
Broccoli
‘Green Comet’ ‘Early Purple Sprouting’ ‘All Year Round’ ‘Long Season Cropping’ ‘Early Nantes’ ‘All Year Round’ ‘Resistaﬂy’ ‘Come and Cut Again’ ‘Snowball’ ‘Prinz’ ‘Brydons Prize Red’ ‘Golden Self Blanching’ ‘Brussels Wiltloof’ ‘Zucchini’ ‘Eight Ball’ ‘Taxi’ ‘Pyralis’ ‘Salad King’ ‘Sweet Florence’ ‘Purple Stripe’ ‘Silverskin’
This is the well known one – still good This is the best one for patios and small spaces The most popular one often sold as broccoli Old favourite Resistant to carrot root ﬂy Doesn’t do well in pots Excellent type
Cabbage Calabrese Carrot
Cauliﬂower
Celeriac Celery
The old favourite Good for pots – compact Strange name – good plant The main one – very good Rounder shape – like a cricket ball This is a yellow one Compact one – very neat Curly variety
Chicory Courgette
Cucumber Endive Fennel Garlic
Hardneck variety Softneck variety
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Kale Leek Lettuce ‘Dwarf Green’ ‘Musselburgh’ ‘Lit’ ‘In Perpetuity’ ‘Cos’ ‘Siberian Everlasting’ ‘White Lisbon’ ‘Sturon’ Parsnip ‘Hamburg’ ‘Hollow Crown’ ‘Douce Provance’ ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ ‘Carouby du Mausanne’ ‘Arran Pilot’ ‘Charlotte’ ‘Desiree’ ‘King Edward’ ‘Maris Piper’ ‘Pentland Types’ ‘Rougette’ ‘Sparkler 3’ ‘Victoria’ ‘Matadoor’ ‘Golden Gourmet’ ‘Little Grandad’ ‘Brora’ ‘Best of all’ ‘Swift Early’ ‘Popcorn’ Very hardy – doesn’t mind being in a pot A Lambs lettuce – really good in pots Cut-and-come-again The general purpose type The Welsh type – really great for pots and you can grow them anywhere Good salad type The most common set variety Not strictly a parsnip – but near enough The old favourite Quite compact The standard and very common type Mange tout variety First Early Second Early Maincrop – red skinned Maincrop – general all rounder Great for Chips The best for the patio by far New variety that is very old fashioned Round one – very good – award winner The old one – and probably the best The best one on the patio
Onion
Pea
Potatoes
Radish
Rhubarb Shallot
Spinach Swede
The original
Probably true A very quick maturing cob Baby sweetcorn. great fun for kids
Sweetcorn
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new varieties are grown every year. it is because I haven’t grown it or it’s not much use on the patio. so please don’t rely on the above information year in.P ATIO P RODUCE
If I have missed out a variety – and this list is only a small one. year out!
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. However.